BJP works for welfare of people, will contest polls alone: Devendra Fadnavis on Cong-Shiv Sena rift

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], June 21 (ANI): As the rift between the three parties of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition is widening on the issue of going alone in elections to local bodies, Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest the next assembly polls on its own.

Pointing to the war-of-words that erupted between the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi partners - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, the former Chief Minister said that it is for the partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance to decide on who they will form an alliance with.

"The BJP will contest polls on its own. It is for them (MVA) to decide who they will form an alliance with, throw a slipper at or present a garland to," Fadnavis said in reference to Thackeray's indirect comment about the Congress that people would 'beat them with footwear'.

"Our interest is connected to the public. The BJP works for the welfare of the people," he added.

During a function held on the foundation day of Shiv Sena on Saturday, Thackeray had, without naming anyone, attacked the Congress after state party chief Nana Patole said that the three-party MVA alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress, was formed in Maharashtra for five years and it is not a permanent fixture.

"A few people are talking about going solo and fight elections on their own. If we do not offer solutions to people's problems but only talk about fighting elections alone in politics, People would hit them with chappals if they do so," the chief minister had said.

This came after Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on June 14 indicated that the party will contest the next Assembly polls alone and not as partners of Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance. "Congress will contest the Maharashtra Assembly Elections alone. I am ready to be the CM face if the high command decides," Patole had said.

Staunch adversaries for long, the Shiv Sena and the Congress had banded together with the NCP to form the MVA government in Maharashtra after the Uddhav Thackeray-led party fell out with the BJP in 2019.

Meanwhile, Patole on Saturday assured that his party supports Thackeray with all its might till the government completes its full five-year term.

He also said that there will not be any problem from Congress to the MVA government. (ANI)