Mumbai: Senior Congress minister Ashok Chavan has again created a flutter by saying that the Shiv Sena had given a written undertaking to Congress president Sonia Gandhi while forming the tripartite Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state. While the Sena has denied Mr Chavan’s claim, the BJP has demanded that details of the undertaking be revealed.
At a meeting in Nanded Sunday, Mr Chavan said that Mrs Gandhi had given clear guidelines that the state government must work within the framework of the Constitution. “She told us that first, we should get this in writing from the Sena that the government should work within the ambit of the Constitution and should not violate the Constitution preamble. We were told to convey this to Uddhav Thackeray,” he said.
The PWD minister said that Mrs Gandhi had also told state Congress leaders that if the government did not function as expected, the party should withdraw from it. “We conveyed the same to Mr Thackeray. He agreed and we agreed to form the government,” he said.
On its part, the Sena made it clear that no such written undertaking was given by the party to the Congress. Senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde said, “The terms and conditions have been specified as per the common minimum programme only. Apart from that, nothing has been given in writing. We are committed to run the government as per the Constitution preamble.”
Meanwhile, former CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis responded to Mr Chavan’s remarks saying that the Sena should clarify about “deals” done before the formation of the MVA government. “If alliance parties don't have faith, why is the Sena in government?” he asked.
Mr Thackeray was sworn in as CM in November last year to head an alliance government with the Congress and NCP after the results of the October 21 Assembly elections failed to throw up a clear winner. The parties then agreed upon a common minimum programme to run the government.
