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'CMs are of 3 types…': Shashi Tharoor's veiled dig at Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde
In a move that stunned political pundits, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced that Eknath Shinde will be the next chief minister of Maharashtra.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday sprang up a surprise by announcing rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde as the next chief minister of Maharashtra. In a curious turn of events, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was widely believed to take up the CM's office, first announced that he would stay out of the Shinde-led government but was sworn in later as Shiv Sena leader's deputy.
The BJP, however, is expected to safeguard the party’s interests in the state and the government by ensuring that key portfolios remain with it.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor quoted satirist Sharad Joshi in an apparent swipe at the newly-appointed chief minister.
“There are three types of chief ministers: the elected chief ministers, the planted chief ministers and the third are those who become (chief minister) in the battle of the first two!” he tweeted in Hindi.
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On Thursday, Congress accused the BJP government of capturing power "unethically" by use of money and muscle power, and destabilising democratically elected governments.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that the focus of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been to capture power in the states and bring down the elected governments rather than serve the people.
"We strongly condemn the way BJP is destabilising both democratically elected governments and democratically installed governments. This is not only an insult to democracy, but also an insult to the people who voted against the ideology of BJP," the Rajya Sabha member said.
"Through the naked display of money and muscle power, the BJP has undemocratically and unethically captured yet another state government. Under the Modi-Shah duo, the BJP wants to capture power at any cost, either directly or through remote control. What happened in Maharashtra is shameful for Indian democracy," he added.
