BJP ready to fight polls with or without the Sena: Fadnavis  

Mumbai, Feb 23: The BJP was ready to fight polls with or without the Shiv Sena, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said. He, however, added that the BJP desired that the two parties fought polls together.

"I do not read or listen to anybody in the party (Sena) because there is just one person who takes all its decisions. And I have good relations with Uddhav ji (Sena chief Thackeray). I keep meeting him on and off," Fadnavis said. He was speaking at a programme organised by a news channel here in suburban Bandra.

Fadnavis further said, "I think we will fight the polls together. However, we are ready to fight it this way or that way." To a query regarding the spate of suicides at Mantralaya despite the government's farm loan waiver, Fadnavis said these incidents had no connection with the present government. "One person who committed suicide had complaints pertaining to the MPSC (Maharashtra Public Services Commission) paper he had answered in 2013.

The other was a convict who had a written a letter to the Chief Justice to have his sentence reduced," he said. "Dharma Patil (a farmer who consumed poison and later died in hospital) had received a compensation of Rs 3 lakh from the previous government but then said he wanted a higher compensation. According to the law, once the compensation is accepted, it cannot be changed," he added.

Replying to a query on former Congress leader Narayan Rane's induction into the NDA despite his alleged criminal records, Fadnavis said that Rane, as per his (Fadnavis) knowledge, had no case against him. Fadnavis added that Rane would be given a ministerial berth or an appropriate position at the right time. In reply to another query on NCP chief Sharad Pawar's praise of Rahul Gandhi, Fadnavis said that there couldn't be worse days for Pawar if he had to praise the Congress leader.

PTI