Opposition 'completely directionless' in 2 years of MVA govt: Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that the two years of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government saw a "completely directionless opposition", which has not been able to dislodge the three-party ruling alliance led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, but is still giving new dates for toppling it.

In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana on the completion of Thackeray's two years in office, Raut said falsehood doesn't always succeed in politics.

In the last two years, Thackeray stood firm despite all efforts to "malign" his government, the Rajya Sabha member said.

Taunting the opposition BJP, he said the early morning swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister in November 2019 (before the formation of the MVA government) also completes two years.

''Even though the opposition has not been able to topple the government, it still gives new dates of dislodging the MVA. This is a joke," said Raut, who is the executive editor of Saamana.

The Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP after the 2019 state Assembly polls over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post. Subsequently, Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister in a hush hush ceremony at the Raj Bhavan with NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

After the four-day-old Fadnavis government collapsed, the Shiv Sena formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with ideological rivals NCP and the Congress as its partners.

Raut said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is currently in hospital (after undergoing spine surgery earlier this month) and his health is fine, but the "opposition has become directionless".

''The opposition left no stone unturned to corner him. Thackeray braved all below the belt attacks and still stood firm,'' he said.

Raut further said Shiv Sena leaders were being threatened with action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), while those close to the Pawars (of the NCP) were raided by the Income Tax department.

The BJP also instigated workers of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), who are currently on strike, and the riots in Amravati, Raut alleged.

''What the BJP is doing is not politics, but it is conspiring out of desperation," he claimed.

Raut said Thackeray has a clean image and is popular among people.

''(NCP chief) Sharad Pawar, (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have given Thackeray a free hand and there is no interference," he said, adding that the BJP could not break even a single MLA from the ruling alliance.

He said the BJP won the Pandharpur Assembly bypoll (earlier this year) due to NCP's "mistake", but the opposition party could not breach the impregnable wall put up by (Congress leader) Ashok Chavan in the Deglur Assembly bypoll.

The Shiv Sena won the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha bypoll, he said,while noting that the BJP "did not do well" in the recent byelections in 13 states.

In satirical comments, Raut also listed the opposition BJP's ''achievements'', saying it levelled baseless allegations of corruption and irregularities, gave political colour to the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death and "maligned" the state government and the Thackeray family, resulting in the unnecessary entry of the CBI into the case (of Rajput's death).

He also claimed that the BJP did not leave any opportunity to lower the morale of the state police.

Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh (currently facing multiple cases of extortion), as the then Thane police chief, had ''worked hard'' for the BJP in the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation elections, he claimed.

"Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and others will tell how much effort he (Singh) made to split other parties and bring their leaders into the BJP-fold. The Devendra Fadnavis government had appointed him the Thane police commissioner and then the chief of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)," he said.

It is clear who is behind the allegations (of corruption) levelled by Param Bir Singh against (former state minister and NCP leader) Anil Deshmukh, Raut said.