Siv Sena complains of dictatorial attitude of BJP

Shiv Sena today voiced "pain" and complaints in Lok Sabha against the ally BJP's "dictatorial" attitude as it picked holes in various decisions of the Modi government, including demonetisation.
Sena leader Anand Rao Adsul, while appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking "transformative" steps, said his party "is with BJP because of shared ideology but sometimes there are signs of divergence between policy and intention."
Reflecting unhappiness in his party, Adsul suggested that BJP was not giving due regard to Shiv Sena.
He said BJP had been saying it is younger brother to Sena in Maharashtra but after getting more seats in the last Assembly elections, it has been behaving as elder brother. "If younger brother has four children and elder brother has only two, does the younger brother become elder?"

Sending out a message to Modi, he reminded him that it was late Sena chief Bal Thackeray who had resisted a move by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his removal as Chief Minister after the Gujarat riots of 2002.
"Had you been removed as Chief Minister, one wonders whether you could have become the Prime Minister," Adsul said.

Referring to demonetisation, he said initially Shiv Sena has been supportive of the decision but later it found that the Centre did not have a proper plan of action to replace Rs 15 lakh crore worth currency.
Adsul, echoing the opposition contention, said even RBI Governor Urjit Patel and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had not been taken into confidence while deciding on demonetisation.

He said the government should have called an all-party meeting a day after the announcement of demonetisation to take everyone's views and seek support for the move.
He countered the government's view that normalcy has been restored in cash circulation, saying crunch still exists in villages.
"You had said after 50 days things will be normal. It has already been 90 days and there is still not enough currency in rural areas. Farmers have to sell their produce at half a price... District Cooperative banks do not have money to lend... What name can we give it? Is it democracy or dictatorship," Adsul said.

"I say this out of pain, I don't appreciate just for the sake for appreciating," the Sena leader said.
He disputed RBI's contention that black money is being channelised through cooperative banks and said it is housewives' money which are being deposited in banks.
Adsul also criticised the Modi government on Article 370 that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, saying no initiative has been taken to scrap it.
He said the government has also not given any timeline for construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
"There is no initiative with regard to Article 370... Everyone says we will construct Ram Mandir, but no one says when. Noone gives a date saying at this date the construction would be completed," he said.

On cross-LoC surgical strikes, he said, "It was a good step. But why were no further strikes carried out even when terrorists keep coming (from Pakistan).