MVA allies will continue to rule Maharashtra, will also dislodge BJP from Centre: NCP
Mumbai(PTI): Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Wednesday said the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena will not only continue to govern Maharashtra, but will also come to power at the Centre by dislodging the BJP.
Malik, who is the NCP's national spokesperson, made the comments in the wake of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's claim that he was approached by certain people who asked him to assist in toppling the MVA government in Maharashtra so that the state could be forced into mid-term elections.
Raut, in a letter written to Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday, also alleged that central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were targeting leaders of the Shiv Sena after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party formed a government in Maharashtra with the NCP and Congress.
The three parties formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra following the 2019 Assembly polls, after the Shiv Sena snapped ties with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
Backing Raut, Malik said what the Sena leader said is true and NCP leaders are also being targeted.
But, it is their (of the BJP) illusion that we will get scared. No matter how much they try, the (state) government will complete five years. This government will run for 25 years. We will be in power in the state, and we will also attain power at the Centre, Malik claimed.
The NCP leader also charged former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis with being behind the actions taken by central agencies against the BJP's opponents.
He is giving directions (to agencies) on whom they should target. You can't grab power using the ED. This is Maharashtra, Malik said.
He said the more the agencies act against MVA leaders, the more support the latter will get from the people of Maharashtra.
Malik also said that officials attached to central agencies should work as per the laws and not as workers of any political party.
Nobody remains in power permanently, he added.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
