Demand for President rule keeps Maharashtra pot boiling

Mumbai: A day after a BJP MP demanded President's rule in Maharashtra, leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday accused the opposition party of trying to destablise the state government amid coronavirus crisis. Distancing his party from the demand of Central rule, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis tried to capitalise on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement that the Congress was not in the driver's seat in the state. The Congress was trying to avoid the responsibility for `failure' of the Maharashtra government and blame the Shiv Sena, said Fadnavis, a former chief minister.

BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane on Monday met governor B S Koshyari and demanded President's rule, accusing the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of failing to bring the pandemic situation under control. Apart from Rane and some BJP leaders, NCP chief Sharad Pawar also met the governor on Monday. Later Pawar met Uddhav Thackeray. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut hit back at Rane's demand on Tuesday, saying it was the neighbouring BJP-ruled Gujarat that needed President's rule. "If you go by the Gujarat High Court's strictures about tackling of COVID-19 crisis, that state's performance is worse compared to Maharashtra's. If President's rule is to be imposed, the Centre should start with Gujarat," Raut said, while asserting that the Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra was stable.

BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar distanced his party from Rane's view.

"The situation in Maharashtra is grim, but it does not qualify for President's rule. We feel the state government is not serious enough about tackling the situation," the former state minister said. Maharashtra has enough resources but the state government is "not making enough efforts," he alleged.

NCP leader and minorities affairs minister Nawab Malik accused the BJP of spreading rumours that President's rule will be imposed in Maharashtra. The state government was strictly adhering to the Centre's guidelines on combating COVID-19, he said.

Congress leader and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said the state BJP leaders were trying to destabilise the government, but there was no reason to worry about its stability.

"BJP leaders in the state are greedy for power. They cannot think of helping the government in the current situation. They are trying to destabilise the government," Thorat told reporters. As Maharashtra has recorded over 52,000 coronavirus cases, the highest in the country, the BJP has been questioning the MVA government's ability to handle the crisis. Fadnavis alleged that the Congress wanted to avoid responsibility for the state government's failure. "Rahul Gandhi wanted to blame only Shiv Sena and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray," he told reporters.

"We are supporting Maharashtra government, but we are not in the key decision-making role in Maharashtra," Rahul Gandhi said in Delhi earlier on Tuesday, adding that the state needed full support of the Centre in its battle against coronavirus. Fadnavis, meanwhile, denied that the BJP wanted to seize power in Maharashtra through machinations.