'Stop bickering over portfolios, bungalows or Uddhav will quit'

Veteran Congress leader Yashwantrao Gadakh

A former parliamentarian and veteran Congress leader has warned his partymen and the NCP members against creating anymore troubles in the coalition and stop "bickering over portfolios and bungalows", otherwise Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will resign. Yashwantrao Gadakh cautioned the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders at the civic felicitation ceremony of his son Shankarrao Gadakh, who is the water conservation minister in the MVA government, on Sunday.

A video footage of the event that has gone viral shows Yashwantrao, the three-time Lok Sabha MP from Ahmednagar, criticising the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party ministers for creating a new problem for the chief minister every other day.

"Uddhav Thackeray will resign if the Congress and NCP people don't behave. If you [Congress-NCP ministers] want Thackeray to maintain physical and mental health, then you must stop fighting. You should behave sensibly so that this government runs," he is heard saying in the video.

Questioning the need for palatial bungalows and swanky offices for the ministers, Yashwantrao said, "If this government is for the rural people then why do you need official residence and offices in Mumbai? Someone needs to tell them [party leaders] that the ministers should stay among the people. The farmers and weaker sections of the society want this government to run because they think it is their government."

The 76-year-old leader said Thackeray isn't a regular politician but an artist. "I have seen him at close quarters and know him since his father's days. Thackeray is an artist and a person who keeps promises. But he may quit any time if the Congress and NCP continue to create troubles for him." He said the Congress and NCP members would be sitting on the Opposition benches had Thackeray not taken a decision [to break away from BJP]. "You are ministers [today] only because Thackeray has decided so, or else you would have continued to vent [while sitting in the Opposition]. Despite this, you bicker over staking claims to a portfolio and a special bungalow. It's time you got your acts together and behaved," he said, adding that he has also discussed his concerns with state Congress president and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat.

Yashwantrao has remained loyal to the Congress but is not very active politically, while his son Shankarrao left Congress two years ago and formed his own local outfit -- Krantikari Shetkari Paksha. He won the 2019 assembly elections Nevasa and extended his support to Thackeray, following which he was inducted into the Cabinet.

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