If there was political pressure, your nephew would be first to switch to BJP: Sena tells Sharad Pawar
The Shiv Sena refuted NCP chief’s allegations that BJP was using central agencies to pressurise opponents and claimed that Pawar’s nephew Ajit would have been the first to jump ship if it were true
In a scathing attack on NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who claimed central agencies were being misused by the BJP to force rivals to join them, the Shiv Sena claimed that the former’s nephew Ajit would have been the first to jump ship if it were true.
“There is a swift current of changing-loyalties in which many are being swayed away. The new definition of democracy calls it the “alive-democracy,” said an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Monday.
Refuting the NCP chief’s allegations, the party claimed that Pawar’s nephew Ajit would have been the first to switch to BJP if it were using IT and ED raids to pressurise opponents.
“Many MLAs of Congress and NCP are lined up for entry into BJP and Sharad Pawar has expressed concerns over it. He had alleged that agencies such as IT and ED are being used to break the legislators from their party. If this pressure was true, then Ajit Pawar would have entered BJP first,” the editorial read.
The Sena also compared the trend of switching parties with the erstwhile Congress-era.
“Incoming has increased in BJP in the last five years, not because of ideology or policies but due to power and political interest. There was a time when anyone who rose up went into Congress. Similarly, people are going into BJP now”, Saamana said.
The Sena also attributed the switching of loyalties to ‘sacrifice’ for national interest or ideological differences.
“Such sacrifices are always ongoing. Recently 10 Congress MLAs in Goa and 10-12 in Karnataka also made a similar sacrifice. In Madhya Pradesh, two BJP legislators made the sacrifice and extended their support to Kamal Nath. In West Bengal, TMC people are ready to get into BJP”, the editorial read.
Earlier, Pawar had alleged that the central government is using central agencies to pressurise leaders of opposition parties to join the BJP.
“Central Government is misusing their power before elections (Maharashtra), pressuring those leaders who are not willing to join BJP. This is not limited to Maharashtra, it has happened everywhere,” he said while addressing the media in Mumbai.
“The Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers have been involved in calling many leaders. On the other side, we are getting complaints from many that some agencies are being used like ED, CBI and state government’s ACB. These agencies are being used to threaten the public representatives,” he added.
