Shiv Sena betrayed Maharashtra by siding with Congress: Javadekar

Congratulating Devendra Fadnavis on becoming the chief minister of Maharashtra once again, Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said the Shiv Sena betrayed the people of the state by deciding to go with the Congress, which was "synonymous with corruption".

He also said that despite the Congress being against the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Sena decided to join hands with it.

Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra and Ajit Pawar of the NCP as his deputy on Saturday morning.

The development raised eyebrows in the political circles as the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress were holding talks over the last few days to form a government in the state. NCP president Sharad Pawar had even announced that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was the three parties' consensus choice for the top post.

"Congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis for becoming the CM of Maharashtra and he becoming the CM is the respect to the mandate given by people," Javadekar said in a tweet.

He added that the "khichdi" (hotchpotch) being cooked (by the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) was against the people's mandate.

"People had voted for BJP alliance. Shiv Sena betrayed people & peoples' mandate & decided to go with the Congress, which opposed Ram Mandir & Veer Savarkar; Shiv Sena was happy to go with the Congress, which is synonymous to corruption & had imposed emergency," he said in another tweet.

"How absurd the argument of Shiv Sena is - If Shiv Sena goes with the NCP it is good and if NCP MLAs come with BJP it is bad. Today what has been honoured is "Peoples' Mandate," the minister said.