BJP to lose support of Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu at Centre if MVA wins in Maharashtra: Awhad

Thane, Nov 3 (PTI) NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad has claimed that Nitish Kumar of JD(U) and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu would withdraw their support from the BJP-led Centre if MVA is voted to power in Maharashtra.

The sitting MLA from the Mumbra-Kalwa assembly constituency, who has been renominated by his party, targeted the Ekanath Shinde government over the state’s “financial instability” and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to disrupt peace in the country.

If the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) forms the government after the November 20 assembly elections, BJP’s allies at the Centre Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu will stop backing it, he claimed at a rally at Mumbra near Thane on Saturday.

Once back in the saddle, MVA will “provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 3,000”, said Awhad without elaborating. The BJP-led Mahayuti government cannot even meet essential expenses like police salaries, he said.

Awhad said Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who triggered the acrimonious split in the NCP last year, had alienated his uncle and party founder Sharad Pawar from the activities of the outfit. He also accused Ajit Pawar of “straying towards RSS ideologies”.

The BJP-led Mahayuti government has failed in curbing communal violence in the state, he claimed and slammed CM Shinde for sharing the stage with religious leader Ramgiri Maharaj, accused of making objectionable comments against Islam.

Three-term MLA Awhad faces NCP's Najeeb Mulla in the Mumbra-Kalwa constituency. PTI COR NR