'Opposition is frustrated, desperate & directionless'

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that the state had never seen such "frustrated, desperate and directionless" opposition in its history.

Fadnavis, while addressing a press conference here, also said that opposition was unable to understand that EVM is a machine, which is unable to cast votes on its own.

His statements come a day after prominent opposition leaders, including state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, NCP's Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal, among others, termed the Lok Sabha polls results as "shocking" raised concern over the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Fadnavis was here as part of his month-long 'Maha Janadesh Yatra', which he launched on Thursday. The yatra will now head to Bhandara and Gondia districts.

"BJP is communicating and reaching out to people and voters, while the opposition is communicating with the EVM. The opposition is unable to understand that EVM is a machine and does not cast votes. Votes are cast by voters and if we communicate with voters we can certainly get votes," the chief minister said.

"I feel the opposition is very frustrated, desperate and has become completely directionless. Maharashtra had never seen this kind of opposition in its history," he added.

Fadnavis said the BJP will fight the upcoming Assembly polls with its alliance partners.

"I have told the Shiv Sena that first, we will finalise the seats of our alliance partners and then share other seats between ourselves as per the already decided formula," he said.

Earlier, Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe was detained by the Nagpur police as he planned to hold a protest before the chief minister's 'Maha Janadesh Yatra'.

The police action drew condemnation from senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan, who asked in a tweet whether asking questions to the CM in public interest was a crime.

MPCC chief Balasaheb Thorat also asked whether it was a crime to stage a protest.

When questioned about Londhe's detention, Fadnavis said that police is responsible for maintaining law and order in the state and they take decisions accordingly.

"Nobody is stopped from protesting in a democratic manner, but some people have the habit of protesting only for the sake of publicity. It is not the CM, but the police department that takes preventive steps to address such issues," he added.