by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Pawar day dreaming about mid-term poll in Maharashtra
BJP not worried about Sena
Amit Shah confident SS will vote for BJP presidential candidate
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, June 7
The BJP high command dismissed senior NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s view that Maharashtra is heading towards a mid-term poll.
“Pawar Saheb is day-dreaming. His party is looking for a role in the state and at the Centre. He thinks that Shiv Sena will desert BJP and there will be political role for his party. But nothing of this kind will happen,” said a senior general secretary of the party on the condition of not being quoted.
The general secretary said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is handling the state in perfectly. If he has taken a decision to announce the package sometime in October, it is largely because the Monsoon is about to set in the state. It is expected that immediate problems of the farmers would be resolved and a fair assessment will be made about the compensation to them only after the Monsoon.
The BJP leader said that Pawar is a worried man because the probe agencies continue to go after cases of corruption. The Enforcement Directorate had already gone after Ajit Pawar and the CBI registered an FIR in the aircraft purchase case during UPA regime.
With regard to relations with Shiv Sena, BJP president Amit Shah had told a small group of journalists last week that relations with the ally are cordial.
Amit Shah had said the allies do have their own views on certain issues. The Shiv Sena is an ally at the Centre and in the state and he had not heard anything that they have changein a democratic set up, an ally is free to express its view and it will be seriously looked into.
The BJP leadership is confident that Shiv Sena will vote for the party’s Presidential this time. It may be mentioned that the Shiv Sena did not vote for the BJP candidate during the two previous Presidential elections. But the Modi-Amit Shah team is confident that Sena will vote for the BJP candidate.
