Not all is well within the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena leader and state minister Tanaji Sawant hit out at the Mahayuti ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at an event on Thursday. Sawant said that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's alliance with the NCP makes him vomit.
Sawant equated his relationship with the party to "sitting on their lap but feeling nauseous as soon as I get up."
The state minister proclaimed that he is a true Shiv Sainik. "It is true that in our lives, we have never gotten along with the Congress or the NCP. It's like an allergic reaction, where just the mere presence causes discomfort and nausea," Sawant said.
He added that the ideologies of Shinde Sena and NCP-Ajit are diametrically opposite and thus, making it impossible to be in agreement with them. He did not even spare NCP chief and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
"Even when I sit together in the cabinet with NCP chief Ajit Pawar, as soon as I step outside, I feel nauseous. It is something that cannot be tolerated," he said. He added that at the age of 60, he cannot change his ideological stance and is committed to his principles.
Tanaji Sawant's statements seem to have struck the NCP the wrong way as the party was quick to fire back at the former's remarks. NCP-Ajit Spokesperson and MLC Amol Mitkari asked whether it was only his party's responsibility to ensure that the alliance is intact.
"We are quite only to maintain the coalition dharma. It is only the chief minister who can treat his nausea," Mitkari said. NCP-Ajit chief spokesperson Umesh Patil also took umbrage to Sawant's statement against his party and his party chief.
"People will say that Tanaji Sawant says that we are helpless for power. The workers and the people of Maharashtra will not like us to stop at a place where vomit because we are near them," Patil was quoted as saying by TV9 Marathi.
He also requested NCP ministers in the Mahayuti to not attend the cabinet meeting till Tanaji Sawant is expelled. He also said that Ajit Pawar is a "tough guy" and not a nothingburger to be taken lightly.
Maharashtra is scheduled to go for polls later this year.