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Kirit Somaiya controversy: Shiv Sena tries to pass buck on to NCP
Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had no role in this as the orders (preventing Somaiya from entering Kolhapur) were issued by the home department to maintain law and order
PUNEAs action against Kirit Somaiya snowballed into a controversy with the BJP and Somaiya accusing Uddhav Thackeray of directing the police action, the Shiv Sena tried to pass the buck on to the NCP, claiming that no orders were issued from the chief minister’s office.
Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had no role in this as the orders (preventing Somaiya from entering Kolhapur) were issued by the home department to maintain law and order.
“I spoke to CM Uddhav Thackeray and he said the chief minister’s office has nothing to do with it,” Raut said in Mumbai, insisting that there was no vendetta politics involved.
The police action against Somaiya, according to political observers, provided him free airtime while on the other hand government looked wary of any criticism.
“Don’t call the Kirit Somaiya episode as drama. In Maharashtra, drama and theatre have a lot of respect among people. There is no need to target the chief minister on this issue. A chief minister doesn’t get involved in such petty issues,” he said.
He claimed that non-BJP leaders were being pressured with the fear of arrest and attachment of properties.
“If you have to make allegations, state agencies like the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and state police will investigate without bias,” he said.
Raut said the truth in allegations will be decided by courts, but attempts to destablise the government will not work.
BJP state president Chandrakant Patil said the MVA ministers have no coordination among themselves.
“Is this the way the government is being run? The home department is taking some decisions, the CM does not know. When the MVA government was formed, I had advised Uddhav Thackeray not give the home ministry to NCP,” he said.
He accused the MVA ministers of being “seeped into corruption” and said they were not worried that their “misdeeds” can be challenged in court.
“Fight a legal battle, instead of a panic reaction. If supporters of Mushrif throw a single stone on Somaiya, that will prove costly to you (state government),” he said.
Asked if the Shiv Sena and NCP leaders were on the BJP’s radar, Patil said his party was focussing on issues like “injustice” being faced by the common man and atrocities against women.
“In some days, irregularities of two Congress ministers will be exposed,” he claimed, without taking any names.
(With agency inputs)
