Mumbai: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah targetted NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray, the two Maha Vikas Aghadi partners hit back at the BJP’s chief strategist saying that the comments were laughable.
Shah had described Pawar as “corruption ka sargana” and Thackeray as “leader of Aurangzeb fan club”.
Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders said that both Pawar and Thackeray are respected leaders and such comments are unwarranted.
Pawar’s daughter and NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule said that the comments are laughable. “It is the BJP-led NDA government that has conferred Pawar Saheb the coveted Padma Vibhushan award considering the volume of work of the last 60 years,” said Sule, who is a four-time Lok Sabha and one-term Rajya Sabha member.
Sule said when Shah was addressing the BJP convention and speaking about Pawar, she saw BJP’s Ashok Chavan in the same frame.
“Ashok Chavan, was sitting behind him…so 90 per cent of the people who have been accused of corruption by BJP are in BJP today because of the washing machine…I have never said a word about Chavan Saheb but it is the BJP which used to call him corrupt, but today he is part of the BJP,” she said.
Thackeray’s close aide and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut too hit out at Shah. “The Home Minister has described Uddhav ji as the leader of the Aurangzeb fan club…but we are not part of the Jinnah fan club,” said Raut. “We never went to Jinnah's grave in Pakistan and offered flowers or ate Nawaz Sharif's birthday cake in Pakistan. Basically, there is nothing wrong in taking the side of nationalist Muslims in the country. Muslims have also contributed during the struggle of this country,” he said.
Raut said that instead Shah should probe Devendra Fadnavis, who has claimed that during the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, 20 MLAs of MVA have cross-voted. "There should be a probe...and Shah should ensure a probe," he said, adding: "This (Maha Yuti) government is because of corruption."