Ramdas Kadam: If Sena quits govt, NCP will support BJP

Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena leader and environment minister Ramdas Kadam Tuesday expressed fears that the NCP had supported the BJP after the Assembly election and if the Sena quit the government, the NCP would again support the BJP to form the government in the state.

Mr Kadam cited the example of the recently concluded Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation (AMC) election to support his argument. “The Ahmednagar election has proved that the NCP is backing the BJP,” he said.

Meanwhile, the NCP said that before making a comment on it, the Sena should first run the government with the BJP properly.

Speaking with reporters in Mantralaya Tuesday, Mr Kadam said that in order to keep the BJP away from power in the AMC, he had spoken with former deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar and the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Radhakr-ishna Vikhe-Patil.

“I had spoken with Mr Pawar and Mr Vikhe-Patil over the issue of mayoral elections (in AMC). Despite the situation, the NCP, which fought the election against the BJP, backed the BJP. Hence, the NCP has had double standards since many years,” he claimed.

The AMC election also revealed that the NCP is waiting for the Sena to quit the government and it will back the BJP to form the government. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “Mr Kadam’s accusation is baseless. We have decided neither to support the Sena and BJP nor to take support from them for the mayoral election.”

He reiterated that the party had already issued notices to all of its corporators. Once they replied, action would be initiated against them.