‘Lies, defection and spectacle’: Congress pulls up BJP with 8 questions after Fadnavis resigns

After the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis resigned as the three-day chief minister of Maharashtra on Tuesday, the Congress hit back with eight questions and a demand for an apology.

The opposition party’s spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted the questions minutes after Devendra Fadnavis announced he will step down as the chief minister.

And, just before that his deputy and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar had put in his papers.

“Those in a minority who abducted ‘people’s opinion’ have been finally unmasked. It is clear now that the BJP’s Chanakyaniti means abduction of democracy. Shri Devendra Fadnavis and Shri Ajit Pawar should apologise to the people of Maharashtra. Their government was based on lies and defection and crashed like a pile of cards,” Surjewala said in a series of tweets.

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The Congress leader then directed a set of questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, accusing them of hurting democracy.

“Today is also the day to ensure the accountability of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and home minister Shri Amit Shah. Reply -: 1. Why did you create a spectacle of democracy in Maharashtra? 2. Why did you use the governor as a puppet? 3. Why did you hurt the president’s dignity?” he asked.

Then came his demands for explanations.

“Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Amit Shah must reply. 4. Why did you paralyse the country’s cabinet? 5. Why the naked orgy of defection and buying and selling? 6. Why did a minority government play a drama as a majority government? 7. Why did you take back cases of corruption? 8. Why did you tear down the Constitution?”

Before Surjewala, senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal had also attacked the BJP.

“This is a victory of constitutional democracy. They thought through horse-trading they can make the government. This is not only a failure of Devendra Fadnavis but also a slap on faces of their masters sitting in Delhi,” KC Venugopal said, according to news agency ANI.

Fadnavis had taken oath as Maharashtra chief minister for the second term on Saturday morning with Ajit Pawar stunning the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, who were on the verge of announcing their claim to power.

The NCP chief Sharad Pawar denied his party had anything to do with his nephew Ajit Pawar’s “personal decision” and the other two parties continued to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party for “murdering” democracy.

The three parties then decided to approach the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to invite Fadnavis to form a government.

The top court said in its verdict on Tuesday morning that the three-day-old Fadnavis government in the state will have to face a floor test on Wednesday.

A three-judge bench of the court said that the vote will be conducted by a protem or temporary speaker and should be telecast live. The voting cannot be conducted by secret ballot, the court added.

Senior leaders of the Sena, NCP and Congress have claimed the support of 162 MLAs, well above the halfway mark of 145 in the 288-member assembly.

The BJP has 105 MLAs, the Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. Independents and smaller parties hold 29 seats.