Pune, Oct 18 (PTI) Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Friday claimed the state will lose if the Maha Vikas Aghadi comes to power since the Congress-led alliance will not take help from the Centre.
On the contrary, the Eknath Shinde dispensation retaining power will ensure a “double engine” government, which will speed up development in the state, Bawankule said.
The MVA comprises the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), while the ruling alliance constituents are Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.
“A double engine government will work for the development of the state. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (if it wins) will not take support from the Centre. It will damage the state,” he asserted.
Bawankule took a jibe at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and said Sharad Pawar had made him resemble a character in Hindi blockbuster film Sholay who mouths the dialogue about “half going to one side, the other half moving to another side and the rest coming with me”.
“The fact is there is no one left (with Thackeray). The good old days (of chief ministership) he is seeking from Pawar and the Congress will not materialise as both parties have left him behind. For Pawar and the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s utility is over,” he said.
Bawankule said Pawar wants to make his daughter and Baramati Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Asked about BJP facing dissent from within in Pune in the run-up to the assembly polls, Bawankule said, “No one has rebelled, no one has filed nominations.” Queried about whether a Brahmin would be fielded from Kasba seat, where the community has a strong presence, the BJP state unit chief said candidature will be on merit and not on caste and such considerations.
Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23. PTI SPK BNM
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