Fadnavis dismisses Raj's 'political vendetta' charge

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday slammed MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s for crying ‘political vendetta’.

Mr Fadnavis said that his party had no reason to target a person who could not even win four Assembly seats.

“Mr Thackeray was the star campaigner in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. He often crossed the line in his speeches, took extreme stands. Despite this, he could not receive a positive response from people. Perhaps, the people had rejected him. Therefore, we would not get any benefit by taking action against him (Raj) and his party,” Mr Fadnavis said.

Mr. Thackeray had appeared before the ED on Thursday in connection with the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (ILFS) scam. ED officials had grilled Mr Thackeray for more than eight hours.

After coming out of the ED office, Mr Thackeray had once again trained his guns on the Fadnavis-led government saying that he would not keep quite even if the regime orders further probe into the matter.  

Commenting on the state of the Thackeray-led party, Mr Fadnavis said that the MNS could not send any of its candidates to the Lok Sabha in the 2014 polls. Moreover, he said that the lone MNS MLA later joined the Shiv Sena.

The chief minister also noted that despite being in power at the Nashik Municipal Corporation, the party could only win two seats in the last elections.  

Not a single person from the MNS has been elected to municipal corporations, civic bodies, and district councils of the state, he added.

Refuting the charges of ‘vendetta politics’ against his government, Mr Fadnavis added that the government would not take any further action against the MNS leader if he hands over proper documents to the agency.  

However, if he does not have the documents, the Enforcement Directorate will take action against him, the chief minister said.