Union minister slams MVA govt, calls Thackeray ‘absentee CM’

Javadekar while addressing a press conference also targeted Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday claimed that people call the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra ‘Maha Vasulia Aghadi Sarkar’ and suggested ‘Maha Vishwasghati Aghadi Sarkar’ as the full form for the coalition.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar (PTI Photo)

Javadekar while addressing a press conference also targeted Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Calling him ‘accidental and absentee’ chief minister, he said that the government is ‘corrupt, anti-people and useless’ following the MVA government’s completion of two years in office. Javadekar also listed cases of alleged corruption against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena leaders.

“There is nothing worth praising about the two years of this government. It has been the most corrupt, opportunist, anti-people and useless government ever in Maharashtra,” Javadekar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. “People call it Maha Vasulia Aghadi Sarkar. I want to give it a new name - Maha Vishwasghati Aghadi Sarkar,” he said.

Javadekar further added that the MVA-led alliance led to the criminalisation of politics in the state during its two years in office. “While the income tax raids at a prominent NCP minister's residence revealed 'benami' property worth ₹1000 crore, another NCP minister was arrested for kidnapping and assaulting a common man,” he said.

He highlighted that Maharashtra gave their mandate to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the 2019 assembly polls but the chief minister forged an alliance with rivals NCP and Congress for the post of the chief minister.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on the completion of two years lauded the government for turning the crisis into an opportunity. He said that most of MVA’s two years were spent on managing Covid-19. He also thanked citizens for their support and said that the MVA is the only ‘people’s government.’