Nana Patole hits out at Devendra Fadnavis for 'politics of vendetta'

Mumbai: BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis blackmails political opponents by misusing government machinery, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole alleged on Saturday hours after former MP Kirit Somaiya revealed that he used to accuse leaders of corruption at the now deputy chief minister's instruction.

“The BJP has touched a new low in the last 10 years and worked to eliminate the opposition by doing the politics of vendetta and deceit. Leaders of Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP in Maharashtra were blackmailed by abusing the government machinery. The Congress party has consistently raised its voice against the politics of vendetta being done by the BJP, but today finally the truth has come out,” Patole said.

“Somaiya has revealed that it is none other than Fadnavis who plotted to defame the opposition leaders by proving them corrupt. With this, Somaiya has exposed the deceitful and vindictive politics done by Fadnavis,” Patole said.

It may be mentioned, Fadnavis was chief minister from 2014-19 two times and then leader of opposition when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power.

As of now, he is the deputy chief minister in the government headed by Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde which also includes NCP’s Ajit Pawar as another deputy chief minister.

“Somaiya used to accuse the leaders of the opposition party of corruption, and with the help of ED, CBI, and IT, he used to ensure that action was taken against them. Tired of this blackmailing, many joined the BJP. As soon as these people joined the BJP, they were given constitutional posts with respect. Somaiya said that Fadnavis is the mastermind behind all this, it was at his request that Somaiya did the work,” he added.

Patole said that the real face of Fadnavis has come out in the open. “It is no longer a secret that a racket was systematically run in Maharashtra in the name of corruption and that the villain running this racket is Fadnavis. Maharashtra has a long political tradition, this tradition has been tarnished by Fadnavis,” he added.