Thane, July 7: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday said that the people of the state have now realised that they made a grave mistake by voting for the BJP in the last Assembly polls and want to “rectify” it in the coming elections. He was in Thane to attend a party event.

Patole also led an agitation and targeted the Centre after the Gujarat High Court dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark. Congress Leader Nana Patole Hits Out at PM Narendra Modi's US Visit, Advises Him to Visit Manipur First.

Patole said people in Maharashtra are in no mood to choose the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as they are fed up with the manner in which the party uses threats and resorts to all kinds of tactics to retain power. They made a grave mistake and want to rectify it in the coming elections, he said. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana Patole Resigns from Post, Likely to Be Named State Congress Chief.

While the state is reeling under various problems, the BJP is indulging in the game of “kidnapping” the legislators of opposition parties and the recent episode involving the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is one example, he said. “The BJP used to make fun of MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) and see what they are doing now,” he said.

MVA was a three-party bloc – Congress and undivided NCP and Shiv Sena – that was in power under Uddhav Thackeray till it collapsed last year following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde who then joined hands with BJP to become the chief minister.

Patole said there is already a lot of friction among the three constituents of the ruling coalition – BJP, Shinde-led Sena and Ajit Pawar faction of NCP – and the discord will worsen in the days to come.

Accusing the ruling parties of ignoring the health infrastructure in Maharashtra, Patole said the Congress in the next session of the legislature will demand a provision of at least 10 per cent for health in the state's budget.

Patole said the government has looted people in one form or another and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is one such example, and called it ‘daku' (dacoit). About the position of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly after Ajit Pawar, who held the post, became a part of the ruling alliance, Patole said a member of the opposition party with most number of legislators gets the post.

He said no Congress legislator is joining the ruling coalition, asserting that rumours are being planted. The Congress has become stronger after Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, his foot march from Kanyakumari to Srinagar, and the BJP is worried about it, said Patole. The BJP is “stealing” elected representatives and indulging in threats using agencies like the ED and CBI, he said.

“Even the results of elections held recently show that the BJP is losing some grounds and the Congress gaining,” he said. The Congress recently put up an impressive show in the Karnataka elections and formed the government in the southern state.

About the visits of Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao to Maharashtra, Patole said leaders from Hyderabad and Uttar Pradesh have made similar attempts but nothing changed.

Asked about Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut's claim that the chief minister will be replaced, Patole said that CM Eknath Shinde will go home if the Assembly Speaker disqualifies Sena MLAs.

Patole also led a protest and targeted the Centre after the Gujarat High Court dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark. He said the courts were working under pressure.

Besides approaching the Supreme Court, the Congress will also reach out to the citizens of the country to seek justice and hold agitations, Patole said.

“What wrong did Rahul Gandhi do when he talked about the Modi surname referring to Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi? Also, the alleged remark was made in Karnataka but an offence was registered at Surat and the case was heard in Surat,” he said.

Gandhi fights for the rights of the citizens, but this government cannot tolerate it. It wants to jail him, said Patole. About a man, alleged to be a BJP leader, urinating on a tribal in Madhya Pradesh, Patole said as Gandhi took the matter seriously, the government in that state went on damage control. “The MP chief minister then resorted to washing the legs of the victim,” he said.