"Such Experiments Failed In Past": BJP Leader On KCR's Third Front Push

A day after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in Mumbai to get parties to unite against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said such experiments had been carried out in the past and had failed.

Speaking to reporters in Aurangabad, Mr Fadnavis said it was not new for Chief Ministers of states to meet in this manner, adding that Mr  Rao had met him as well when he was Chief Minister of Maharashtra between 2014 and 2019.

"Earlier too, these leaders had come together (to take on the BJP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, nothing came out of it. Such experiments (of unity of non-BJP parties) had been done in the past in several states but there was no effect," Mr Fadnavis said.

The BJP leader went to claim that his party would soon be the leading one in Telangana, currently ruled by Mr Rao's TRS.

"In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won four seats in Telangana. Our party will be number one in that state in the coming period," Mr Fadnavis asserted.

Replying to a query on action by the Mumbai civic body against Narayan Rane in connection with his bungalow, Mr Fadnavis said the state government was indulging in "revenge politics" against Rane and Kirit Somaiya, a former LS MP who has been routinely making corruption allegations against Shiv Sena leaders and state ministers.

Speaking on local issues, Mr Fadnavis said the MVA government had "murdered" schemes created during his tenure as CM to make Marathwada drought-free.

"To make this region drought-free, we planned the Marathwada water grid project. We floated tenders for five districts and three were in process. But this government wrapped up this project with slow poisoning," he claimed.

"The state government didn't say they are cancelling the scheme. But they brought it on a small geographical area of the region and said they will implement the rest in the future. Papers and plans have not moved further since," Me Fadnavis added.

The water pipeline project for Aurangabad city was also starved of funds by the MVA government, he alleged.

He added that electricity supply to farm plots gets disconnected over arrears of even small amounts, whereas bills of public representatives drawing salaries of Rs 2.5 lakh are being paid by the state government, which is unfair on farmers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)