NCP questions CM Eknath Shinde’s silence; BJP warns leaders against attacking Mahayuti allies

Meanwhile, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule warned of action against party leaders who make statements against the Mahayuti constituents.

NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole address a joint press conference at the Azad Maidan. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

Three days after state Health Minister Tanaji Sawant’s remarks about his cabinet colleagues from the NCP, the party headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar Sunday questioned Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s silence over the matter.

The NCP said that refusal of the Chief Minister to take action has raised doubts whether the minister, belonging to Shinde Sena, has his backing.

Meanwhile, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule warned of action against party leaders who make statements against the Mahayuti constituents.

“Why is the Chief Minister keeping silence despite the fact that his minister and leader made outrageous and humiliating comments against our ministers? There has not been a single word from him. Neither has Shiv Sena leaders criticised the minister. All this has raised doubts in the minds of our leaders and workers whether the minister made the statement after getting full support from the Chief Minister,” NCP spokesperson Umesh Patil told The Indian Express.

Speaking at a public event on Thursday, Sawant said, “I have never got along with the Congress and NCP all my life. In cabinet meetings, when I sit next to them, I come out and vomit.”

Patil said that NCP leaders and ministers were grievously hurt by the remark made by Sawant.

“’After making his statement, he seems to brazening out. He has even expressed any regret. He seems to be firm on what he said. If this is his stand, NCP as a party will refuse to attend any cabinet meetings if he is present there. I am sure our Ministers and our leader Ajit Pawar will boycott cabinet meetings till Sawant is ousted,” said Patil.

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Patil said there is growing pressure on Ajit Pawar to exit the Mahayuti. “NCP leaders and workers are extremely hurt by the constant attacks on our party by leaders of our own alliance. Many of them are veering around to the thought that the party should exit the alliance,” he said.

When contacted, a Shiv Sena spokesperson refused to comment.

On Saturday, BJP spokesperson Ganesh Hake described the alliance between the NCP and his party as unholy. And the BJP’s Latur district president, Dilip Deshmukh, said the Shiv Sena and the BJP were real brothers while the NCP was the step-brother in the alliance.
Reacting to the BJP leaders’ comments, the NCP spokesperson said his party expected Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to act on the matter.

For his part, Ajit Pawar said on Saturday that if the NCP was attacked in this manner, its leaders and workers were capable of giving a befitting reply. “Our alliance was formed because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis,” Pawar added.

While Fadnavis is yet to react on the issue, Bawankule said that the BJP has warned its leaders not to make statements against its Mahayuti allies.

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Speaking to reporters in Nagpur Sunday, Bawankule said, “On Saturday at a meeting we held an indepth discussion on those making wild statements about Mahayuti constituents. No one should make such contradictory statements against Mahayuti constituents. If any BJP leader violates these directives, we will take action against them.”

Former chief minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan termed Sawant’s remarks insult to NCP.

“The statement by Tanaji Sawant was highly insulting to NCP and its ministers. But the problem is Ajit Pawar has no alternative. He has taken shelter under BJP umbrella to protect his skin. That is the reason, he is not able to do anything against a minister who makes outrageous statement against his party. And as far as Maha Vikas Aghadi is concerned, I don’t think our constituents will agree to give entry to Ajit Pawar’s party,” he said.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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