Don’t wait for alternative, dislodge BJP from power, say MVA leaders
   Date :17-Apr-2023

MVA leaders 
 
 
Staff Reporter
“People waiting for ‘Acche Din’ should first dislodge the current Maharashtra Government. For, ever since the BJP-led alliance has come to power in Maharashtra, the State has fallen on bad times. The alternative will be far more stable and beneficial to common man on the street,” said Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena chief and former Chief Minister. Thackeray was addressing a well-attended ‘Vajramooth’ rally of Maha Vikas Agdhai (MVA) at Darshan Colony ground here on Sunday evening. Putting-up a united front, the MVA constituents -- Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress -- tried to project that a better alternative was waiting in the wings and required popular support.
Nana Patole, President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC); Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister; Ajit Pawar, Leader of Opposition (Assembly) and senior leader of NCP; Ambadas Danve, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council; Balasaheb Thorat, Congress leader in State Legislative Assembly; Jayant Patil, State President of NCP; Aditya Thackeray, former Minister; Sunil Kedar, former minister and main organiser of the rally; Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena leader; Anil Deshmukh, former Home Minister; Manikrao Thakre, former MPCC chief; Vijay Wadettiwar, former minister, and a galaxy of leaders shared the dais on this occasion.
In his speech, Thackeray alleged that the State Government led by Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis had ‘failed on all counts’. He asked the MVA supporters attending the rally whether they got benefited by the schemes of Central and State Governments to which the supporters replied in negative. Thackeray welcomed State Government conferring ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ upon Appasaheb Dharmadhikari. “Dharmadhikari has led a very serene life and fought against addiction. Addiction can be of anything from alcohol to tobacco. BJP has developed addiction of power. Out of this addiction, BJP snatched power from us,” he said. He claimed, “We were running Government quite well, people did not have complaints against us. Had BJP asked us to hand over power, we would have given it easily. Instead, they divided Shiv Sena, seized our symbol of bow and arrow. We did not expect betrayal from BJP with whom we had a long partnership of more than 25 years.” “BJP always talks about Hindutva. We respect Hindutva. For us, Hindutva has national meaning, with no connection with religion or caste. We don’t keep shouting Hindutva alone, ignoring people’s problems like unemployment, hunger, insecurity, price hike. We can never see farmers suffering. But, this Government has become so insensitive that they can go to Ayodhya leaving farmers to their fate. I think it is time for people to show them their place,” Thackeray appealed to the gathering.
In his speech, Patole raised issues like farmers suicides, water scarcity, inflation. “In the name of development, Nagpurians are being looted. When we planned this meeting at Nagpur, BJP started opposing it. It has developed fear as our first ‘Vajramooth’ rally held at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar was a grand success,” he said. Accusing BJP Government of neglecting farmers, he asked farmers not to commit suicide. Farmers are not getting their compensation, the issue of employees of State Transport is pending, businesses are in trouble, he alleged. He appealed to MVA constituents to stay united and fight for the people’s cause. “It is people who will decide whom they want in power,” he said. Prithviraj Chavan said that India was never in trouble ‘like it is in now’. “Prime Minister is in question on several issues from Adani to price hike, to people’s security. He is asking his colleagues to keep mum, which came to the fore through the disclosure by Satyapal Malik, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister doesn’t answer to any question,” said Chavan.
Jayant Patil accused the Government of playing the politics of vengeance. The works announced by Ajit Pawar as Finance Minister have been stalled by Shinde-Fadnavis Government, he alleged. “If they have problem with us they should fight with us. Instead, they are making people suffer. They have stopped conducting polls, which shows that they are afraid of defeat. In our political history, nobody treated the Opposition as enemies. This Government has set a bad precedent,” Patil said. Anil Deshmukh spoke on how he was implicated and how he proved that he was not guilty. “BJP is afraid and hence it opposes our acts unnecessarily. Since the reports of our rally at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar were positive, BJP felt that our Nagpur meeting too would attract huge crowd. A look at the audience reflects as to whose favour are the people in right now,” said Deshmukh.
Dr Satish Chaturvedi, ex- minister; Adv Abhijeet Wanjari and Dushyant Chaturvedi, MLCs; Vikas Thakre, MLA and President of Congress city unit; Rajendra Mulak, District President of Congress party; Balu Dhanorkar, Congress MP; MLAs Sunil Prabhu, Raju Parve, Nitin Deshmukh; Prakash Jadhao, ex-MP; Nash Ali, Women’s Congress City chief; Duneshwar Pethe, NCP City chief; Abha Pandey, Member of State Commission for Women; Jitendra Awhad, NCP leader; Prakash Gajbhiye, ex-MLC; Mukta Kokadde, ZP President; Vinayak Raut, Vishal Muttemwar, Narendra Jichkar, Praful Gudadhe, Kishor Kumeria, Tanaji Wanve, Pramod Manmode, Prakash Wasu, Suresh Bhoyar; Pravin Kunte, NCP State Spokesperson; Abhijeet Sapkal, Yadnyavalkya Jichkar, Kishor Tiwari, Umakant Agnihotri, Bunty Shelke, and others were present.