Congress mocks Shiv Sena over Sanjay Raut's 'govt on notice' statement

Making light of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's statement that state government is "on the notice", the Congress on Tuesday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had no "guts" even to raze encroachments despite being in power in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for two decades.

"The party which did not have guts to pull down illegal encroachments cannot dare to pull out of the state government. Shiv Sena is addicted to power. Both Sena and BJP accuse each other of being corrupt. They are right and they will be rejected by people," state unit Congress spokesman Sachin Sawant told reporters on Tuesday.

Raut had on Monday hinted at his party walking out of state government after the BMC elections, saying the Devendra Fadnavis government is on a notice period.

Sena, the alliance partner in BJP-led state and Central governments, had last month announced to contest the upcoming elections to ten municipal corporations and twenty-five Zilla Parishads on its own without forging any tie-up with the BJP. The 227-member BMC is going to polls on February 21 along with other municipal corporations.

"...When you call the other corrupt in the civic body, how can he be good elsewhere," Sawant asked.

Responding to a query on Patidar quota stir spearhead Hardik Patel's meeting with Uddhav Thackeray here, Sawant said, "this is all drama at a time when there is nothing concrete to show on the development front in Mumbai".

He criticised the BJP's initiative wherein it has administered the "oath of transparency" to the party candidates contesting the civic polls and has asked them to declare their assets.

"Why should this (oath) be restricted only to corporators? Why not the ministers in the state government? They too should be asked to declare their assets and take oath of transparency," the Congress leader said.

Calling Union budget anti-poor, Sawant said, "Central subsidy for below poverty line (BPL) families is cut down from Rs 4500 crore to Rs 200 crore. Due to this decision, poor people will find it difficult to provide sugar at subsidised rate under the 'Antyoday' scheme for BPL families. Sugar prices are expected to rise after April 1 due to this decision. State government should make its stand clear on this issue. Congress will protest against this move which affects the poor sections of the society."