As the rift amidst the Maha Vikas Aghadi continues to widen amidst the Antilia Bomb threat case and the subsequent corruption allegations against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, the Shiv Sena has taken to its mouthpiece, Saamana to throw Deshmukh under the bus in a desperate bid to save the Uddhav Thackeray government.
In a move that will not please the masters of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut in the NCP, the Shiv Sena has taken to Saamana to claim that Anil Deshmukh got Home Minister’s post by accident. The party added that Deshmukh got the much-vaunted post of Home Minister only because senior NCP leaders Jayant Patil and Dileep Walse Patil had refused to accept it.
Saamana in its article said, “Deshmukh got the post of home minister by accident. Jayant Patil, Dilip Valse-Patil had refused to accept the post of home minister. Then this post was handed over by Sharad Pawar to Anil Deshmukh. This post has a dignity and status. There is also fear of the post.”
Clearly, the Shiv Sena is attempting to wash its hands off the mess that Maha Vikas Aghadi finds itself in and is trying to pin the blame on Sharad Pawar and Anil Deshmukh.
Such has been the tremendous downfall of the Shiv Sena that in its article it chose to praise perhaps one of the worst Home Minister in the history of Maharashtra – RR Patil from the NCP.
“RR Patil’s working style as the home minister is still an example today,” wrote the Sena.
It is pertinent to note that in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Patil had back then said, “They (terrorists) came to kill 5,000 people but we ensured minimal damage.”
In fact, Patil termed the dastardly terror attacks as a “small incident” that happen in “big cities” like Mumbai. It seems that the lust for power has made the Shiv Sena blind.
In what reveals the extent of cracks between the Sena and the NCP, the former completely washed its hands off the Sachin Vaze story despite the fact that Vaze was a former Shiv Sainik and was reinstated by the Uddhav Thackeray administration. “It is a matter of real investigation to find out how an API (Sachin Vaze) had so many unlimited powers and access at the police commissionerate,” questioned the Sena.
Slamming Deshmukh, the Sena wondered how it was that Sachin Vaze was sitting in the Mumbai Police Commissionerate and making recovery and the home minister was not aware of it.
The Sena seems to have crossed a line by attacking the godfather of the Maha Vikas Aghadi – Sharad Pawar and his protege Anil Deshmukh. Rest assured, the NCP will not take such accusations lightly and will likely hit back at the Sena as the Maha Vikas Aghadi continues to falter its way through governance.