The Congress on Wednesday said Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' offer to resign following the setback suffered by the BJP in the state in the Lok Sabha elections was only "drama".
Fadnavis is running an "unconstitutional government" and had publicly stated that he returned to power by breaking up two parties, said state Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe.
"His wish to resign is just drama. You (Fadnavis) used official machinery to give the breakaway factions of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party the (original) party symbol and name. But the people have now expressed their opinion about who these two parties belong to. Will (Prime Minister) Modi resign?" he asked in a statement.
NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase claimed that Fadnavis had proposed to resign because he intended to make Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Ajit Pawar quit.
The votes of the Shiv Sena led by Shinde and Ajit Pawar's NCP did not get transferred to the BJP, Tapase said.
"The BJP which wanted to destroy Sharad Pawar politically has fallen flat on its face," he added.
Clyde Crasto, another NCP (SP) spokesperson, mocked the BJP leader saying "sources say that Mr Devendra Fadnavis is planning to end his era of politics." Crasto was referring to Fadnavis' remark in 2019 that the Sharad Pawar era of politics was over.
Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said Fadnavis was a very capable leader who wanted to become chief minister when the BJP-Shiv Sena government was formed in 2022, but ended up becoming a deputy CM.
"It is because of the misdeeds of the present government that we got a good number of seats in the Lok Sabha. They should continue with their performance so that we win the assembly elections as well. Fadnavis should continue as a minister," he said.
The BJP and allies got 17 seats in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, with the BJP’s tally dwindling by less than half compared to 2019, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won 30 of the 48 seats.
Fadnavis on Wednesday said he took full responsibility for the BJP's poor performance and would request the party leadership to relieve him of government duties so that he could focus on the assembly polls.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.
