“Our leader of the opposition was managed to government”, says Prithviraj Chavan

Mumbai, 21^st September, 2019: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Vancit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar discussed the future of opposition parties in Maharashtra at the India Today Conclave Mumbai, 2019. While both Chavan and Ambedkar agreed that the BJP is trying to finish the Opposition Raut claimed that the Shiv Sena’s never attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a candid admission Chavan said that it was a tragic error to make Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil Leader of Opposition and continue him after he failed to attack the government.     

TAKEAWAYS OF THE SESSION:

# Chavan claimed the Congress lost badly in the 2014 Assembly election because the NCP broke their alliance just before the election which left them surprised. The Congress could not get candidates to fight the election. He argued that the Congress has lost the election but the party is not a death bed as it has existence in every villages.

# Ambedkar said why the main stream parties do not allow the down trodden class have their own organization. He rejected the allegation that the VBA led to defeat of Congress-NCP candidates in 8 to 10 Lok Sabha seats.

# Ambedkar also denied the charge that BJP paid for the fare of his helicopter rides. He said common people had given donations to VBA which were deposited in an account of State Bank of India.

# Sanjay Raut claimed that the Shiv Sena never attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said Saamna publishes news items regarding the PM like any other newspaper. Its editorials is always in sync with the party line.

# Chavan came down heavily on Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, then Leader of Opposition who joined the government a couple of months ago. Chavan the party failed to expose the government’s corruption in the Legislative Assembly. Outside the House, the party undertook several agitations.

# Ambedkar said he does not see any difference between BJP and Congress. The BJP is a hard crore Hindutava party whereas the Congress is a soft Hindutva party.

# Ambedkar said he had asked for the seats which the Congress was not going to win. Chavan rejected the claim saying the Congress had offered six seats to the VBA.

# Raut said the Shiv Sena will respond to BJP president Amit Shah on the possible 50:50 seat sharing in Maharashtra only if he comments on it.

QUOTES:

“It was a tragic error to make him (Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil) Leader of Opposition and continue in the post. The Congress paid a heavy price for that. Our LoP was managed.”

●     Prithviraj Chavan, Congress leader

“I wish Prime Minister Narendra Modi could continue in the office for a long time. He is the worst PM in the history of India. He has destroyed fabric, culture and hegemony of India. Religion and caste have become important.”

●     Prakash Ambedkar, president VBA

“Veer Savarkar was the original Hindu Hriday Samrat. After that Balasaheb Thackeray took the place. Narendra Modi is a Hindutva leader. Samrat could be only one. We will contest the next election in name of Uddhav Thackeray as well as Narendra Modi.”

●     Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena leader

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