Maharashtra politics: BJP will be told ‘chale jao’ at INDIA meet in city, says Nana Patole

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole. File pic

To protest against the ‘tyrannical' BJP government, various political parties across the country have come together in a strong alliance named INDIA. The third meeting of the allies will be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, where the logo of the INDIA bloc will be unveiled on Day 1 of the event. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole said Mahatma Gandhi had given the slogan ‘chale jao' to the British from Mumbai, and the Modi government, too, would be told ‘chale jao' at the INDIA meeting in the city.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Patole said that the upcoming meeting is important and that some parties in the NDA could also switch over to the INDIA side. This meeting will see the presence of six chief ministers, including Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, presidents of various parties, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as well as Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

"The INDIA alliance has many capable candidates for the post of prime minister, while BJP itself has no other candidate for this post. People are fed up with Narendra Modi, his popularity is rapidly declining. The leaders of the alliance will decide on who will be the prime ministerial candidate but, as a Congress worker, we feel that Rahul should become the prime minister," Patole said.

Answering a question, Patole said that Sharad Pawar had made it clear that some colleagues from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with Ajit Pawar had joined hands with the BJP and came to power because of the fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and not for the development of the state. "These same people were in power for many years; let them tell us what they have developed," he said.

"Work on the Mumbai-Goa highway has been going on for almost 17 years but it has not been completed. The work is riddled with corruption. BJP leaders are partners in the contract of this road. The work has been held up due to a dispute regarding their commission. Many contractors have abandoned the project midway. Because of all this, the people of the Konkan are suffering. A high court judge should inquire into the work of this highway, to bring out the truth of the project," Patole added.

The MPCC president said that people's money is being wasted on the campaign of the ‘government at your doorstep' initiative and that this government is implementing the plans of the Congress government and taking credit for it. Patole also said people had been expressing strong displeasure with the government over this initiative.

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No. of CMs who will attend meet