Mumbai
Launching a scathing attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the recent water leakage inside the Mumbai-Pune Expressway ‘Missing Link’ tunnel, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday accused the MahaYuti government of hiding its failures behind emotional rhetoric.
Addressing the anniversary event of the MNS Railway Kamgar Sena, the MNS Chief questioned the Chief Minister’s defence in the Legislative Assembly and hit back at his remarks warning the Opposition against politicising the issue.
Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Fadnavis’s objection to the Opposition’s criticism, Raj Thackeray said, Wow! He (Devendra Fadnavis) says don’t politicise it. When anyone speaks out, it becomes ‘politics’ to them. What were you doing all those years when you were in the Opposition? Weren’t the agitations you staged against previous governments ‘politics’? Now that the heat is on you, you claim the Opposition is playing politics.
He also dismissed the Chief Minister’s emotional appeal in the House, where Devendra Fadnavis had said that he could tolerate personal attacks but not the insult of Maharashtra.
People are raising genuine questions about the Missing Link project. Where is the insult to Maharashtra in that? he asked.
If anyone speaks against the Central government, they are labelled ‘anti-national’. If someone speaks about the Missing Link, it is called an insult to Maharashtra! Are citizens not supposed to ask you questions at all? Raj Thackeray added.
The MNS Chief also targeted Chief Minister Fadnavis for issuing warnings to critics and suddenly shifting languages during his Assembly speech.
The Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) declared in the Assembly that the Missing Link features top-notch construction quality and threatened to ‘deal with’ those politicising it. Listen, you are the Chief Minister. What do you mean by ‘I will deal with you’? Raj Thackeray remarked.
The MNS Chief also said, After saying all this, the Chief Minister suddenly started speaking in Hindi. Who was he speaking in Hindi for? The MLAs sitting in front of him are Marathi, the Legislative Assembly belongs to Maharashtra, yet our Chief Minister speaks in Hindi. Why? Perhaps Devendra Fadnavis wanted to send a message to his party bosses at the top, telling them that ‘I will deal with them’. Even he (Devendra Fadnavis) knows where these leak videos are originating from. There is massive internal infighting brewing within the BJP just wait and watch what happens next.
Turning his focus to the state of infrastructure, Raj Thackeray alleged widespread corruption in government contracts, claiming it has severely compromised construction quality.