BJP engineered splits in parties started by 'Marathi people': Supriya Sule

Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule on Sunday claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party engineered splits in two political parties started by "Marathi people".

"Balasaheb Thackeray and Sharad Pawar started their own political parties, and they received the love and support of the Marathi people. They both have roots here in Maharashtra, and their umbilical cord is with the state's people. The BJP engineered split in both the parties," Sule said.

The NCP broke up into two factions on July 2 after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government.

The Shiv Sena split in June last year after Eknath Shinde rebelled against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

The "same invisible hand in Delhi", an apparent reference to the BJP central leadership, caused losses to these two political parties, said Sule, who is Lok Sabha MP from Baramati and also working president of the faction headed by Sharad Pawar.

Attacking the BJP further, she said the party demoted the person who was chief minister of the state for five years. Devendra Fadnavis, who headed the government in Maharashtra between 2014 and 2019, was made deputy CM under Shinde by the BJP.

Without naming Fadnavis, the NCP leader said the former was further "demoted" after he was made to share the post of deputy CM. On July 2, Ajit Pawar became the second deputy CM in the Shinde government.

Sule claimed investments were leaving Maharashtra and said it was a deliberate attempt to reduce the importance of the state and weaken it.

She, however, clarified she was not against any state.