Mumbai: NCP spokesperson and minister of minority affairs Nawab Malik on Tuesday dared the BJP-led government at the Centre to sack the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. The trigger was when BJP leader and Maharashtra’s former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s statement that if the state government does not cooperate with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the investigation of Bhima Koregaon violence case then there is possibility of a Constitutional crisis and in such a situation the Centre may sack the MVA government.
Malik in his response said,” If BJP government has guts it should sack the MVA government in Maharashtra.” He noted that it would be “murder of democracy” which the people of Maharashtra would never forgive.
Mungantiwar had expressed his view after Pune police on Monday refused to hand over the case to the visiting three-member NIA team citing that there were no orders either from the Centre or the state government.
NCP and BJP are currently engaged in a verbal duel after the Centre last week handed over the investigation into the Bhima Koregaon violence case to NIA. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, home minister Anil Deshmukh, Congress leader and public works minister Ashok Chavan and couple of leaders attacked the Centre for its move. Pawar claimed the centre’s decision to transfer the probe into the Bhima Koregaon violence to the NIA was motivated by fears that a fresh investigation could expose wrongdoings by the BJP-led government that was in power at the time.
Pawar said the case had been transferred days after he wrote to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ask for a probe by a special investigation team (SIT). He also hit out against the labelling of people who spoke out against social injustice as “urban naxals”.
Deshmukh termed the Centre’s move against the Constitution.
However, BJP spokesman Madhav Bhandari alleged that Pawar was playing politics in Bhima Koregaon violcence case. He reminded that Pawar in his affidavit submitted to the Commission inquiring the Bhima Koregaon violence case had said that he did not want to name any person or organisation.