Most corrupt government… won’t come to know when it is toppled: Fadnavis

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray attacked former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying Hindutva faced a threat from “neo-Hindus” and dared the BJP to topple the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government, former CM and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis escalated the war of words on Saturday stating that the present government was the most corrupt the state had seen, and that Thackeray would “not even come to know” when it was toppled.

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray attacked former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying Hindutva faced a threat from “neo-Hindus” and dared the BJP to topple the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government, former CM and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis escalated the war of words on Saturday stating that the present government was the most corrupt the state had seen, and that Thackeray would “not even come to know” when it was toppled.

A day after chief minister Uddhav Thackeray attacked former ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying Hindutva faced a threat from “neo-Hindus” and dared the BJP to topple the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government, former CM and leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis escalated the war of words on Saturday stating that the present government was the most corrupt the state had seen, and that Thackeray would “not even come to know” when it was toppled. (Hindustan Times)

“You should keep in mind that it would be recorded in the history of Maharashtra that this is most corrupt government in the history of the state. There is only one agenda of this government, which is extortion,” Fadnavis told reporters in Nagpur.

During his annual address at the Dussehra rally in Mumbai on Friday, Thackeray had hit out at the BJP and accused the Centre of interfering in the state’s day-to-day affairs.

“I believe that Hindutva is now under threat. Those who have used the ladder of Hindutva can now use the strategy of the British of divide and rule,” Thackeray said during his address at the annual Dussehra rally in Mumbai on Friday. The CM also accused the Centre of misusing “central agencies” and asked Shiv Sena workers if they were ready to face the “attack by BJP leadership” in the same way that West Bengal (under Mamata Banerjee) had faced.

“Does he want the unionism and extortion spree prevailing in Bengal to come to Maharashtra? Does he want to hang and thrash people with dissenting voices? Kolkata once used to be financial capital of the country. We would not allow Maharashtra to become another West Bengal,” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis said that Thackeray’s speech was a result of “political frustration” and it was time for the CM to stop acting innocent. He said the CM should pay attention to the corruption that was being uncovered by Income Tax (IT) department raids, Fadnavis said that Thackeray should decide he is for the eradication of the drug menace or against it.

“We are not interested in toppling the MVA government, but he (Thackeray) would not even come to know if it is toppled. Instead of daring us to topple it, the CM should first govern it properly. He should first show the courage to face the farmers by working for their cause. I wonder how he can sleep soundly at night while his cabinet is busy in “dalali” (brokering/ middlemanship) and IT authorities have brought forward sensational facts after the recent raids,” Fadnavis said.

The IT department on Friday revealed that it had recently carried out search and seizure operations at 70 premises of two real estate business groups of Mumbai and certain individuals and entities linked to a politician’s family, following which it found highly incriminating documents, evidencing unaccounted income of about ₹184 crore. These raids were conducted at Mumbai, Pune, Baramati, Goa and Jaipur.

“The “dalali” has reached to such level that some ministers have even got extortion software created to know how much money is to be extorted from whom. If such things are going on, then it is natural that ED-CBI will come to the state,” Fadnavis said.

The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation have been investigating former home minister Anil Deshmukh, who was accused of running an extortion ring. They are also investigating other politicians including Eknath Khadse.

Fadnavis said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was staunchly against the use of central agencies or any interference in their work. Had they been misused, half of the MVA government would be behind the bars, Fadnavis said.

“Hon Modiji is against any such use [of central agencies] or intervening in their business. He is against the misuse of these agencies like it was done during the Congress rule. We believe in democracy. Had we misused the central agencies (against the ruling politicians in Maharashtra), half of the Thackeray cabinet would be in jail,” Fadnavis said.

On Friday’s rally, the Sena chief alleged misuse of central agencies to defame the Maharashtra government. “A picture is painted that the drugs business is booming only in Maharashtra. It is not so that drugs are caught only in Maharashtra. The court has directed [officials] to probe the Mundra port where drugs worth crores of rupees were found. Where is this Mundra port? You merely find a pinch of Ganja, while my police [force] busted drugs worth ₹150 crore. You catch a celebrity and beat drums about it. But my police has busted drug [network] and nobody talks about it,” he said, referring to the arrest of Aryan Khan, actor Shahrukh Khan’s son, after a raid by the Narcotics Crime Bureau in a holiday cruise. Khan was arrested but the NCB maintains that no drug was found on his person.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik reacted to Fadnavis’ remarks saying: “Why only half of the cabinet, they should put the entire cabinet in the jail. Fadnavis should mind his language while levelling such allegations. The corruption of the BJP leaders (from previous BJP-led government) will soon come to fore.”

Thackeray on Friday had also called for an open debate with intellectuals and constitutional experts on federalism. “The Constitution has given us sovereign rights as the Centre, then the Centre’s daily interference cannot happen and cannot be tolerated,” he had said.

Reacting to this, Fadnavis said that the BJP would not allow Thackeray and his party to touch the Constitution. “He said that he wants to change federal structure described in the Constitution. This is a hidden agenda Thackeray wants to implement with the help of a few left-wing parties and communist. But the BJP would not let it happen ever,” he said.

Fadnavis asked why other Shiv Sena leaders like Subhash Desai, Eknath Shinde and Diwakar Raote were not made CM if Thackeray had no aspiration for the post.