Not just Opposition, ruling partners also being intimidated in Maharashtra: Supriya Sule

Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule on Friday took a dig at the Maharashtra government, claiming that not only people from the Opposition but ruling partners are also being intimidated in the state.

She was speaking to reporters in Pune.

Sule was asked about the reaction of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sharad Pawar’s allegation that NCP MLA Sunil Shelke had threatened leaders from NCP (SP). Fadnavis had treated Pawar’s comments in the matter as a threat and said such utterances by a “tall leader like Pawar saheb” diminish his stature.

Sule said, “Stature is decided by society, not by any individual. Had Devendra ji, as the home minister, done good work, there would have been no need for Pawar saheb to express his views.”

Citing BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur in Pune district, Sule said, “He is not just a big leader from Indapur but also a prominent politician in the state. He has expressed concerns in a letter to Devendraji about threats received from alliance partners. This indicates the failure of the home ministry.”

Patil had written to Fadnavis, accusing some functionaries of “alliance partners” on his home turf of using foul language against him and threatening not to allow him to move freely there.

Sule also dubbed the state government as “abki baar, golibar sarkar”, referring to the recent shooting incident involving a BJP MLA in a police station in Ulhasnagar.

“In Pune, drugs worth crores of rupees are being seized, and the ‘koyta’ gang is causing trouble on the roads. The home ministry is responsible for all this. Unfortunately, this state government is not only threatening people in the opposition but also alliance partners,” she claimed.

Asked about Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray expressing surprise over the exclusion of Nitin Gadkari's name from the first list of BJP’s Lok Sabha candidates and his offer to the Union minister to contest from MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi), Sule said Gadkari is a national leader who represents the "original BJP, which was a cultured party".

"I cannot understand what happened to the party now. We learned how to speak in Parliament from Sushmaji (Swaraj) and Arunji (Jaitely),” she said.

On whether her party will welcome Gadkari to MVA, Sule said, “He is someone who does not consider opposition leaders as his enemy. He believes in democracy, and that is why there will always be respect for him.”

(Inputs from PTI)