Govt will topple under weight of own contradictions: Raut

Speaking at the meeting of the Maharashtra BJP’s executive committee in Panvel on Saturday, Patil had given the first broad hint of displeasure within the party

Mumbai A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit president Chandrakant Patil admitted that they had picked Eknath Shinde as the chief minister of Maharashtra with a ‘heavy heart’, the Shiv Sena charged that this revealed the cracks in the alliance and claimed that the government would topple under the weight of its contradictions.

Raut said Aaditya’s rallies in Aurangabad (Sambhajinagar) had seen young and old Shiv Sainiks get emotional at the party being ousted from power (HT PHOTO)

“There is no freedom of expression in BJP. There, one cannot speak one’s mind out… Even then, I am congratulating Chandrakantdada Patil (for saying this),” said Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday. He added that Patil had spoken about something that was going on in his mind.

Speaking at the meeting of the Maharashtra BJP’s executive committee in Panvel on Saturday, Patil had given the first broad hint of displeasure within the party. The BJP, which has a bench strength of 106 in the assembly, allowed Shinde, who walked out of the Shiv Sena, with 39 other MLAs, to become the chief minister of the state. Shinde’s revolt against the party president and then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had led to the collapse of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

“We will not speak like the BJP and claim that the government will fall in 10 days or 15 days… but this regime will not last,” charged Raut. “This government will fall due to its internal fights. This dispensation will never stand on strong legs,” said Raut, pointing to how the council of ministers had not been formed over three weeks after Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in.

Raut said Aaditya’s rallies in Aurangabad (Sambhajinagar) had seen young and old Shiv Sainiks get emotional at the party being ousted from power. “The double-standards government will be washed away in these tears,” he claimed, adding that “lakhs and crores of Maharashtrians were upset” at the Thackeray government being destabilized.