‘Not interested in pulling down govt, it will collapse’

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state unit president Chandrakant Patil on Monday said his party was “not interested in pulling down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state unit president Chandrakant Patil on Monday said his party was “not interested in pulling down the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government”, but claimed that the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition would collapse on its own owing to the “internal dissonance between the three ruling partners” – the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

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He also ruled out any future alliance with the Sena on the back of its “betrayal”, and said his party would now focus on playing the role of the main Opposition in the state.

Patil claimed that the BJP’s stance on the political scenario in the state had remained the same since the MVA government came to power over two months ago. “We never claimed we will come back to power. I had said this government is likely to collapse due to the internal dissonance among its coalition partners,” said Patil.

He added, “This Assembly will get dissolved and mid-term polls will be necessary. The reason we are not interested in forming a government is that we don’t want to go with these people [the Sena], who have done everything against us.”

Patil was speaking to media in Mumbai, a day after he officially took over the reins of the party organisation in Maharashtra during the state BJP executive in Navi Mumbai. On Sunday, BJP national president JP Nadda had also ruled out an alliance with the Sena or any other party in the state in future.

Last week, in response to several statements by BJP leaders over mid-term polls in the state, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had challenged his former ally to bring down his government if the latter could do so.

At the BJP state conclave, the top brass, however, said its cadre and local leaders should accept the “situation” in the state and play the role of an “effective” and “aggressive” Opposition now. Patil said the party would hold protests across 400 sites, including every tehsil office and the Vidhan Bhavan next week, against the MVA government’s “apathy towards farmers” and on the issue of women’s security. The BJP had announced that the protest would be held on February 22 at the conclave, but on Monday postponed it to February 25. The party also asked its former ally to “focus on Mumbai” after an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Monday mocked the BJP over the wall construction alongside roads in Ahmedabad dotted by shanties, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit. “The Gujarat model of development is well-known and the state does well on all parameters. The Sena should focus on Mumbai, where roads have craters and homes get flooded during rains despite a civic budget of ₹38,000 crore. Where does this money go?” quipped Patil.

Patil clarifies on spiritual preacher

Patil said BJP did not support the recent remarks by Marathi kirtankar (spiritual preacher) Nivrutti Maharaj Indurikar, but backed his role in the society as “largely positive”. Indurikar had said intercourse on an even date results in a male child. “We don’t support such remarks. But he should not be condemned for eternity for one controversial statement. He has preached on issues from cleanliness to education in a palatable way to the society,” said Patil.