MVA govt in Maharashtra like 3-wheeler pulling in different directions: Shah

Mumbai, Feb 08: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress is like an auto-rickshaw whose three wheels were pulling in different directions.

The senior BJP leader also said that ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections, his party did not promise Shiv Sena - then its alliance partner - to share the chief minister's post. "I don't make promises in closed rooms. Whatever I do, I do it openly. I don't do politics in closed rooms," Shah said.

Speaking after inaugurating a private medical college at Kankavli in Sindhudurg district, Shah said, "This (MVA) is an unholy alliance and an outcome of betraying the people's mandate which was for a BJP-Shiv Sena government led by (BJP's) Devendra Fadnavis."

The MVA alliance is a result of the lust for power, Shah said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls in over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post with the BJP, and later forged an alliance with the NCP and Congress to come to power.

Thackeray had claimed that Shah, who was then BJP president, had assured at his 'Matoshree' bungalow in Mumbai that the CM's post would be shared by the two parties, and the BJP reneged on the promise.

It is being claimed that the BJP broke the promise, Shah said, adding his party honours the promises it makes.

"We don't speak white lies. We are the ones who honour commitments. In Bihar, we had said that even if the BJP gets more seats, Nitish Kumar will continue to be the CM," Shah said.

Slamming Thackeray, Shah said the Shiv Sena leader addressed poll rallies with him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

In the poll posters of Shiv Sena candidates, Modi's pictures were bigger than Thackeray's, Shah said. "We sought votes for the BJP-Sena alliance led by Fadnavis. Why didn't you speak out then? You just garnered votes in Modi's name," he added.