The Shiv Sena, along with NCP and Congress, have been alleging that the BJP-led Centre used the ED as a weapon to orchestrate the political crisis.
As Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde won the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly today, his deputy Devendra Fadnavis reacted to the Opposition’s charge that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was misused to effect the change in government. “People taunt that it’s an ED government. Yes, it’s an ED government, of Eknath-Devendra,” said Fadnavis.
This came after opposition MLAs hooted the MLAs in Shinde Camp with “ED, ED” slogans as they voted during the trust vote, which the newly sworn-in CM won by 164-99, increasing the winning margin from the Speaker's election held yesterday.
The Thackeray camp, which is now left with just 15 MLAs, along with its former coalition alliance partners NCP and Congress have been alleging that the BJP-led central government used the ED as a weapon to orchestrate the political crisis in the state.
The BJP had initially denied its involvement in the crisis faced by the now-collapsed Maha Vikas Aghadi government, but later came out publicly in support Shinde, indicating that Fadnavis played a crucial role in the turnaround.
Besides refuting the Opposition’s ED charge, Fadnavis underlined that a BJP-Shiv Sena pre-poll alliance had received the mandate in 2019, “but majority was deliberately taken away from us”. He was referring to the Thackeray’s decision to form government in alliance with the NCP and the Congress.
Fadnavis, who faced trolling over his impassioned "I will return" assertion before the 2019 state Assembly polls, said he will avenge such trolls by forgiving them.
Before the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019, senior BJP leader and former CM Fadnavis said "Me punha yein" (I will return), which had evoked many social media memes.
Speaking in the House on Monday, Fadnavis said, "I have been trolled severely for my remark that 'I will return'. I am going to take revenge against the trolls by forgiving them.”
Without taking the name of former CM Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis claimed Maharashtra witnessed a "deficit of leadership availability" in the last few years. "But, there are two leaders in the House (Shinde and himself), who will always be available for people,” Fadnavis said.
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 "Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis - File Photo")
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