Airing his views publicly for the first time on Maharashtra situation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a press conference on Wednesday evening in the national capital.
Full interview of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President Amit Shah on Maharashtra political situation https://t.co/Lce0BiT6lL pic.twitter.com/fAFgjpJVNg
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2019
Expressing his stand on the recently imposed President’s rule in the state, Amit Shah lashed out at the opposition parties. He said that the opposition players are trying to turn it into a political mess. As quoted by ANI, he said, “If they (Opposition) wanted to gain public sympathy by creating a misconception about President’s rule, then it means they do not trust the intelligence of the public. I would like to make it clear that if there is any party that has suffered the most with the imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra, then it is the BJP. We have lost a caretaker government.”
Speaking more on the Governor’s move to recommend the imposition of President’s rule in the state, he said that the governor BS Koshyari had given every party an ample amount of time. He said that the Governor waited for 18 days after the assembly notification. He also said, “Once assembly is notified, any party or alliance can go to the Governor. What the Governor could have done. Everyone has been given time. Even today if someone has a majority, they can contact the Governor and stake the claim.”
The BJP leader further said that the party was very clear from the start that they will only bring Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister if voted to power. He reminded everyone of the rallies in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he himself iterated the similar promises. Amit Shah further added that when the party was re-iterating the candidature of CM Devendra Fadnavis, nobody contradicted it.
On being asked about the strained relations with the Shiv Sena, he said that the saffron party was ready to form the government with the Shiv Sena, however, there were certain demands of Sena that BJP could not agree of.
The leader also cleared his stand that the BJP does not support the ethics of disclosing the “closed-door talks” publicly. As quoted by ANI, he said, “This is not in the ethics of my party to make public discussions that were held behind the closed doors. There has to be the dignity of public discourse.”
Political Deadlock in Maharashtra-
The Mahayuti alliance (BJP-Shiv Sena) bagged the majority of seats in the state polls. On one hand, the saffron party secured 105 seats while Shiv Sena sealed the victory on 56 seats. Shiv Sena demanded the execution of 50:50 formula as iterated by Home Minister Amit Shah during the Lok Sabha campaign. According to it, power has to be shared between the two parties for a rotational basis.