Set up 'shielding portfolio' to protect the corrupt, Uddhav slams Fadnavis over graft issue

Nagpur, Dec 11 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday accused Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis of shielding his "corrupt" cabinet colleagues and questioned the delay in appointing Leaders of Opposition in both houses of the state legislature.

He targeted Fadnavis over the corruption issue and alleged inaction on his part, claiming the CM has "changed" over the years.

Talking to reporters at the party office in Vidhan Bhavan premises in Nagpur, where the state legislature is having its winter session, he alleged that corruption of some minister or the other was coming out in the open daily.

"Videos of their leaders with bundles of notes are coming out. Even then the chief minister is not taking cognizance of the issue," Thackeray noted.

"I would say the chief minister should start a 'shielding portfolio' and take charge of it. I feel pity for the chief minister. What you were (in the past) and what you have become now," said the Opposition MLC, a former ally of the BJP, the party to which Fadnavis belongs.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve on Tuesday posted, on social media, videos purportedly showing an MLA of rival Shiv Sena on a video call with another person who is sitting amid bundles of cash.

While Danve claimed the cash belonged to MLAs of ruling parties, Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Shirsat dismissed the videos as morphed and AI-generated. A day later, Peasants and Workers Party leader Chitralekha Patil made a similar cash-related claim about a Shiv Sena minister.

To a query, Thackeray questioned why there was a delay in appointing Leaders of Opposition (LoPs) in the legislative assembly as well as the council.

The former CM noted that months ago, the Shiv Sena (UBT) forwarded the name of party MLA Bhaskar Jadhav for the LoP post in the assembly, but no forward movement has taken on the matter.

If the BJP-led Mahayuti government can name two deputy chief ministers, then why is it not appointing LoPs in the assembly as well as the council? he asked.

Thackeray questioned what happened to the financial 'package' announced by the chief minister for farmers affected by excessive rains.

He maintained that Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan last month said his ministry has not received any proposal from Maharashtra for providing aid to calamity-affected farmers.

After this, the Mahayuti government suddenly sent a proposal for financial assistance to the Centre in the last week of November, the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC stated.

"We want to ask what proposal has the state government sent to the Centre, how much relief amount it has demanded and who will benefit from it. Details of the proposal should be tabled in the legislature. People should know whether the central government will help the state," he said.

Thackeray asserted farmers were not getting crop insurance benefits and the government should talk about issues related to cultivators in the on-going session of the legislature.

The former CM reacted sharply to critical remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s support to a proposal in Parliament to impeach a Madras High Court judge.

On Wednesday, Shah targeted the Opposition INDIA alliance, especially the Shiv Sena (UBT), for submitting a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of Madras High Court Judge G R Swaminathan whose order directing Subramaniya Swamy temple authorities to ensure that a lamp is lit at the deepathoon (pillar) in Madurai district sparked a row.

On December 1, a single-judge bench of Justice Swaminathan had held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the deepathoon. The stone lamp pillar is located on the Thiruparankundram hillock near a dargah.

Returning fire, Thackeray said Shah should not teach him Hindutva and claimed that the Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was held to "expose" the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"There was a debate on Vande Mataram in Parliament. How can one hold a debate on the 'rashtra geet' in its own country and why are they remembering Vande Mataram after so many years. Vande Mataram has completed 150 years, but the BJP's love for Vande Mataram is only for a day," the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stated.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde hit out at Thackeray for his remarks on Shah and the RSS, noting the Nagpur-based Hindutva organisation is a nationalist outfit which has worked to provide relief to people affected by natural calamities.

Shinde pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's dream of ending the provisions of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

He accused Uddhav Thackeray, his arch political rival, of abandoning the ideals of late Bal Thackeray, a Hindutva icon. PTI CLS PR RSY