Try toppling MVA government: CM Uddhav Thackeray dares BJP in 'Saamana' Interview

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed confidence in the future of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government which constitutes of three-party alliance among Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena. 

Thackeray said that he holds a firm grip and was in control of its (government) steering wheel. The Chief Minister was speaking at an interview with ‘Saamana’ and was responding to queries put forward by Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. 

“Even though the government is being referred by the opposition as a three-wheeler’ rickshaw government, the important thing is that these wheels are moving in one direction. The steering is in my hand while the other two are sitting behind,” Thackeray asserted. 

Earlier, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis had compared the MVA government with an auto-rickshaw questioning its stability. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on multiple occasion has raised doubts over the stability of the three-party coalition in Maharashtra saying that it will fall due to its own contradictions. 

There are speculations of ‘Operation Lotus’ which suggest that the Thackeray government will fall in the month of September and October. Reacting to this, the Chief Minister in his interview dared the opposition to try and topple his government. 

Thackeray said, “some people get pleasure in toppling governments as they derive their pleasure in destructive work. But I dare the opposition to try toppling my government. Why wait for September or October?”

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project of a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the Chief Minister said that he would prefer to connect two capitals in his state - Mumbai and Nagpur - with a bullet train. 

“If you ask me to choose between a bullet train and rickshaw, I will always say rickshaw. Because our government is a government of poor people. The bullet train project will not happen if people don’t want it,” he said. 

Replying to BJP's remark of "three-wheeler government", Thackeray also took a jibe at the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he said that if MVA government is an auto-rickshaw, the NDA was like a train with 30-35 wheels (allies). 

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