BJP and Shiv Sena are not enemies, says Devendra Fadnavis

A day after reports of a secret meeting between Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Ashish Shelar in Mumbai, former Maharashtra chief minister and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said there is no enmity between the two parties.

“There was no enmity between BJP and Shiv Sena. We are not enemies. We are facing ideological differences because our friend who got elected along with us left us and held the hands of those against whom they were elected,” Fadnavis said while interacting with media persons on the eve of the monsoon session of the state legislature beginning Monday.

Fadnavis’s statement assumes significance amid reports of a slew of open and secret meetings between Sena and BJP leaders last week. Sena has two partners, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in the state.

“There is nothing like a hypothesis in politics. Decisions are made depending upon the current situation. The leaders who depend upon hypothesis can only dream,” he said, when asked if both the parties will again join hands.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis denied that any meetings took place with Sena leaders last week. “There is no discussion or meeting with any party. BJP is working efficiently as an Opposition party and will do whatever it requires to fulfil peoples’ expectations,” he said.

After the resignation of two ministers — Anil Deshmukh and Sanjay Rathod — from the MVA government, the BJP has sharpened its attack on the state’s ruling coalition by pointing at the alleged corruption in the auction of the sugar factories. On Saturday, state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah demanding action against the 29 cooperative sugar factories on the lines of the action taken against Jarandeshwar sugar factory in Satara, which has been linked to the relatives of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.