Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday accused Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar of speaking the language of Pakistan, days after the latter alleged that an RSS-affiliated policeman and not terrorist Ajmal Kasab killed the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare.
He also questioned Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's silence over Wadettiwar's remarks.
Wadettiwar, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, recently claimed Karkare, who was the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief during the 26/11 terror attack, wasn't killed by Kasab's bullet but by one fired by a policeman affiliated to RSS.
The Congress leader made the statement while attacking the BJP's Mumbai North Central candidate Ujjwal Nikam, who was the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 trial.
'Wadettiwar is speaking the language of Pakistan by saying that Hemant Karkare was not killed by Ajmal Kasab...The entire country was with Ujjwal Nikam, while Congress was with terrorist Ajmal Kasab,' he alleged.
On the Congress' allegation that the country was heading towards dictatorship, Fadnavis said the country saw dictatorship in 1975 when the entire Opposition was put in jail for two years.
'People who have dictatorship in their blood are accusing us of the same,' he said while addressing a press conference here.
He said minorities and Muslims benefited the most from the Modi government's welfare schemes.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji believes in giving all benefits to the poor. Congress is playing divisive politics and the country has faced division because of this earlier,' he said.
Fadnavis claimed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray had planned to arrest him and even brought a Mumbai police commissioner to carry it out.
When asked about Ajit Pawar bringing his mother Asha Pawar to the polling booth in Baramati and saying he has her blessings, Fadnavis said there is no bigger blessing than of the mother when a picture has been created that Ajit Pawar has been side-lined by rest of the family.