In a scathing attack against BJP’s political opponents in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the opposition for politicising the office of Governor and tarnishing democracy. Shah’s statements come after high-voltage drama in Maharashtra concluded with the imposition of President rule yesterday.
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Speaking to the ANI, Shah rubbished accusations made by the opposition that the BJP government in the centre was stonewalling them from forming government in Maharashtra and calling the shots through the Governor. Slamming Kapil Sibal for his childish arguments, Shah made it clear that nobody is stopping anybody from staking claim to the government in Maharashtra. “If anybody has numbers today, they can approach the governor. A learned man like Kapil Sibal is putting forth childish arguments like “we were denied a chance to form a government”.
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Taking a dig at their former alliance partner Shiv Sena, Amit Shah said that both he and PM Modi had declared in the election campaign rallies that if the alliance wins the elections, Devendra Fadnavis will be the chief minister of the state. Nobody objected back then, now they have come up with a new set of demands which is unacceptable to us, Shah said.
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The Governor of Maharashtra had yesterday sent a report to the Home Ministry recommending imposition of President rule in the state. After discussions in the cabinet meeting concluded, President rule was implemented in the state of Maharashtra.
The opposition- Shiv Sena had argued that they were not given sufficient time to prove their majority. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, through his lawyer Kapil Sibal, filed a complaint in the court contesting Governor’s decision of recommending President rule in the state.
The BJP-Sena alliance broke out over disagreement over the position of the chief minister. The Sena maintains that they had agreed upon what they call “50-50 formula” with a rotational chief ministerial post. The BJP has explicitly denied having agreed to any such formula before the elections.
Following the severance of alliance with the BJP, Sena sought NCP and Congress’ support to stake a claim at the government. Uddhav Thackeray called up Sonia Gandhi on November 11 seeking support for forming the government. After responding in affirmative, Gandhi held back her party’s support citing discussions to be held with her party MLAs and alliance partner-NCP. Sena was left in limbo as they could not prove the numbers to the Governor.
The Governor then invited the third-largest party NCP to form government in the state but they too couldn’t muster the required number necessary to stake a claim at the government. The Governor then, using his discretionary powers, sent his report to the Centre recommending President rule to be imposed in the state since no political party or alliance was in a position to form a government in the state.