Ruling Shiv Sena on Sunday said those predicting political upheaval in Maharashtra after the West Bengal election results should also worry whether the Central government will be stable after its alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Those claiming that there would be political developments in Maharashtra after May 2 [election results] should also remember that tremors will also be felt in Delhi,” said Shiv Sena lawmaker Sanjay Raut in his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece Saamana.
Raut, who is also the executive editor of the mouthpiece, said that Mamata Banerjee’s victory in West Bengal would be a personal defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, who led the campaigning in the state.
“Those claiming that the Maharashtra government’s future is dependent on West Bengal’s results are living in a fool’s paradise. I wonder on what basis some people are saying that Amit Shah will now concentrate on dislodging the Maharashtra government. They will either woo ruling party legislators on basis of their money power or impose Presidential rule citing our failure to tackle the virus,” he wrote.
“If Covid-19 is the reason, then we have to accept the fact that the Central government has no moral right to continue in office. At a time when there is a shortage of medicines and oxygen and more than 5,000 people are dying, how come they can think of indulging in such political play? In order to win one state [West Bengal], these people have put the entire country at risk, and this has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court. The Madras High Court has squarely blamed the Election Commission for this situation.”
{{/usCountry}}“If Covid-19 is the reason, then we have to accept the fact that the Central government has no moral right to continue in office. At a time when there is a shortage of medicines and oxygen and more than 5,000 people are dying, how come they can think of indulging in such political play? In order to win one state [West Bengal], these people have put the entire country at risk, and this has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court. The Madras High Court has squarely blamed the Election Commission for this situation.”
{{/usCountry}}There was no immediate response from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Trinamool Congress appeared to be heading for a third consecutive term in West Bengal even as the BJP was likely to post its best result in the state, initial trends in the counting of votes showed on Sunday morning.