News Analysis India

Tag: Maharashtra politics

  • BJP leaders ask Maharashtra governor to seek status report from government

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A delegation of BJP leaders on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and urged him to seek a “status report” from state chief secretary on the law and order situation.

    Speaking to reporters, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said BJP leaders requested the governor to seek a detailed report from the state government as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is not taking any action despite “numerous scandals” coming to fore over the past few days.

    “Extortion is exposed. There is a transfer racket. State officials are being threatened. All this is worrisome, but the chief minister remains silent. We requested the governor to seek a detailed report from the government as the CM is not taking any action,” the former chief minister said.

    Fadnavis said the governor has the right to seek such report from the state government.

    “It will reveal state’s inaction,” he added.

    Fadnavis said BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar compiled at least “100 incidents that had taken place in the state in the last one year which were anti-Constitutional and illegal. Our hopes are now on the governor”.

    Fadnavis also took a dig at the Congress, which is one of the three constituents of the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

    “It seems the Congress does not have any stand or is it a party to the extortion racket. How much share the Congress is getting out of such extortion should be made public?”, he said.

    Fadnavis’ jibe came days after former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote to the chief minister claiming that state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who belongs to the NCP, had set a monthly “target” of collecting Rs 100 crore, including from bars and hotels in Mumbai, for police officers.

    Deshmukh had denied these allegations.

    On Tuesday, Fadnavis claimed he had 6.3 GB data of telephone calls intercepted by then Commissioner of Intelligence Rashmi Shukla in which names of several key police officers figured.

    He also met Union Home Secretary in Delhi and demanded a CBI probe into “corruption” in police transfers in Maharashtra.

    Reacting to NCP minister Nawab Malik’s claim that Fadnavis could face a legal action if he releases the call intercepts, the BJP leader said, “This MVA government has suppressed a cognizable offence and I have brought it out. I do not care if four more police complaints are filed against me. I will fight the case in court and will win it”.

    Fadnavis said the MVA government had no moral values and that the three parties (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) came together only to enjoy power.

    Besides Fadnavis, the delegation comprised state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha and MLA Ashish Shelar.

    Before meeting the governor, a senior BJP leader, who was part of the delegation, said the state lacks resolute leadership in the current scenario.

    “The status report on law and order will reveal the grim situation prevailing in the state. We want the governor to submit the report to President,” he said.

    “We have been raising these issues but the state government is either ignoring them or playing them down,” he added.

    The MVA government came to power in November, 2019, after a month-long political drama, which included a brief spell of President’s rule and an 80-hour-long Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government.

  • Shiv Sena alleges collusion between BJP and some Maharashtra officials

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Stating that the BJP’s “key motive” is to create instability in Maharashtra by imposing President’s Rule, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday alleged “collusion” between the BJP and some officials with an aim to weaken the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

    The Sena also referred to the “phone tapping episode” and the disappointment expressed by Sanjay Pandey, a DG rank officer, that he was sidelined to claim the collusion.

    On Tuesday, senior BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that he had 6.

    3 GB data of telephone calls intercepted by then Commissioner of Intelligence Rashmi Shukla in which names of several key police officers figured.

    He also met Union Home Secretary in Delhi and demanded a CBI probe into “corruption” in police transfers in Maharashtra.

    In the editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Sena said it has become obvious that the BJP is behind the “conspiracy” to defame Maharashtra “as the opposition party has latched onto IPS officer Param Bir Singh’s letter alleging corruption by state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, and other issues”.

    ALSO READ | BJP flags posting ‘racket’, NCP raises phone-tapping issue

    In his eight-page letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Singh claimed that Deshmukh, who belongs to the NCP, had set a monthly “target” of collecting Rs 100 crore, including from bars and hotels in Mumbai, for police officers.

    Deshmukh had denied the allegations.

    Pandey, who was recently appointed as DG of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC), had written to the CM claiming that he was overlooked for the posts of DG, ACB, Mumbai police commissioner, and state director general of police.

    He alleged that junior officers had superseded him.

    “Those who find (Param Bir) Singh’s letter so important should also do justice to police officer Anup Dange who had written about Singh.

    People of the state know why and for what the BJP is doing all this.

    “The main motive of the BJP is to cause instability in Maharashtra by imposing President’s Rule,” the Sena said.

    Suspended Mumbai Police inspector Dange had alleged that Param Bir Singh had tried to shield some people having Underworld links from law when he was the director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

    The Sena expressed “surprise” that Singh still continues to be in service despite levelling allegations against Deshmukh.

    The party questioned why action was not taken against Singh even after he approached the Supreme Court (and sought a probe by the CBI against Deshmukh).

    The Sena said officers like Param Bir Singh and Pandey had leaked their letters to the media “to create an atmosphere of suspicion about the state government”.

    “Fadnavis approached the Centre with the phone tapping report which was prepared by senior officials like Subodh Jaiswal and Rashmi Shukla by keeping the (state) government in the dark.

    “This means these people in the state administration are serving a political party.

    The opposition party (BJP) colluded with these officials to weaken the Maharashtra government and the government had such officials in its service,” the Sena said.

    Referring to BJP MPs raising Param Bir Singh’s letter in Parliament, the Sena said, “allegations of corruption were made by IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and another official”.

  • Ruckus in Parliament on Maharashtra issue, MP ‘threatened’

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The allegations of corruption against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh raised echoed in both Houses of Parliament on Monday. The BJP stepped up attack on the Uddhav Thackeray government and sought its resignation. 

    BJP MP Manoj Kotak raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour, inviting strong protests from Shiv Sena and the NCP members, who said the issue was a state subject. Later, NCP MP Supriya Sule, while taking part in a discussion on a legislative proposal, expressed anguish saying the treasury benches hijacked the ‘Zero Hour’ for political purposes to target the state government. 

    The Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted following uproar as the treasury benches raised the issue during the question hour. The House failed to perform any business during the first half. 

    Later, Amravati MP Navneet Rana wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant of threatening her after she raised the Sachin Waze issue in the House. Rana alleged that Sawant threatened her in the LS lobby, saying “I will see how you roam in Maharashtra,”. She sought police action against the south Mumbai MP.

  • Defections depleting Maharashtra BJP ranks

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Thrown out of power in Maharashtra by the unprecedented alliance of traditional rivals Shiv Sena and the Congress-NCP combine, the BJP has been facing an uphill task of keeping its flock together in the state. For the saffron party’s state leadership, every alternate day has been dawning with some or the other leader joining either the NCP or the Sena.

    The party is also feeling the vacuum left behind by mass leaders like Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan. Veteran politician Eknath Khadse, who recently crossed over to the NCP, said the BJP was no more a party of honest workers. “I spent almost 40 years in the BJP and helped it expand in every nook and corner of the state. There were days when no one wanted to join the BJP and people used to criticise us as a ‘Brahmin-Baniya party’. I worked hard along with my leaders Munde and Mahajan to change the party’s image. But, I was humiliated and saw no future in the party,” Khadse said.

    “The present leadership cannot keep the flock together for a long time. Sooner or later, people will leave the party.” State minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said, “Every day we get calls from BJP leaders and workers showing their willingness to join the NCP. Our Maha Vikas Aghadi is more stable and secured now.” A senior BJP leader admitted that the MVA government is unlikely to fall anytime soon. “Our leadership tried but could not succeed.

    Now, the NCP and the Sena will fight the next assembly elections together. Therefore, everyone who had joined the BJP for power is suddenly seeing a dim future,” said the leader. Many BJP leaders have become restless after they started receiving notices for old cases, he added. The state police had filed an FIR against BJP MLA and former minister Girish Mahajan in connection with an extortion case. He is known to be close to former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

    MLC Prasad Lad received a notice from state’s Economic Offense Wing for alleged fraud in BMC in 2014. The Opposition leader in the legislative council Pravin Darekar is facing inquiry in a bank fraud case. Another BJP leader said the party’s future in the state is now dependent on PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

    Cong, Sena rift over Aurangabad widensMumbai: The rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra over renaming Aurangabad city has widened after the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) mentioned the city as Sambhaji Nagar in a tweet even as the Congress strongly opposed the move. Shiv Sena, which heads the three-party alliance in the state, has been at loggerheads with Congress, which says that renaming does not figure in the common minimum programme of the alliance. Replying to the tweet, State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat reiterated his party’s opposition.

  • Maharashtra: Gram panchayat poll candidate’s car set ablaze in Thane

    By PTI
    THANE: Unidentified persons on Monday set ablaze the car of a candidate contesting the upcoming gram panchayat polls in Maharashtra’s Thane district, police said.

    No one was injured in the incident, which comes a day after some persons opened fire on a man and his wife, who are also contesting the gram panchayat elections, to be held on January 15.

    The couple had escaped unhurt.

    Around 2 am on Monday, some persons set on fire a tyre of the car belonging to poll candidate Kavita Bhoir, which was parked in her house in Karbaon area of Bhiwandi township.

    The car was partly burnt in the incident, a police official said.

    Later, talking to reporters, Bhoir alleged that since the last 15 days, she has been getting calls threatening that she would be killed if she does not withdraw her nomination.

    Bhoir said she was not afraid of her opponents, and was determined to contest and win the election.

    Bhiwandi taluka’s senior police inspector Ram Balsingh said they have registered an FIR in connection with the incident, but no arrest has been made so far.