'There Was Policy Paralysis': Union Home Minister Amit Shah Takes Swipe At UPA Government

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is on a visit to Pune although Shah is unlikely to participate in the election campaign for upcoming in the Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly seats.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah

The political brawl between the BJP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has heated up ahead of the upcoming bypolls in the Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly seats, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Pune, despite the fact that Shah is unlikely to engage in the election campaign. 

Attacking United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Shah said: "UPA Govt was a govt where every minister considered himself the Prime Minister and no minister considered the Prime Minister a Prime Minister. There was policy paralysis," news agency ANI reported. 

UPA Govt was a govt where every minister considered himself the Prime Minister and no minister considered the Prime Minister a Prime Minister. There was policy paralysis: Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Pune, Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/rCoHtbOrsQ

— ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2023

"Prime Minister wasn't respected in foreign countries & the respect for the country was at its lowest. When PM used to go abroad, he used to read out speeches written for him - sometimes reading Thailand's speech in Singapore & vice versa. The country used to face insult," he added further, according to ANI. 

Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) government's 2.5 years were a waste of time. "2.5 years of MVA government in the state were a waste. We only have 2.5 years left, and we have a lot of work to do. "Our 'double horsepower' government would work with all its might under PM Modi's leadership," Fadnavis stated.

2.5 years (of MVA govt in the state) were a waste. We now have 2.5 years left with us, and we have to do a lot of work. Our 'double horsepower' government will work with all its strength under the leadership of PM Modi: Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, in Pune pic.twitter.com/66u78dp1nq

— ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2023

Shah arrived in Pune on Saturday and take part in a number of events, including the launch of a book titled 'Modi@20' about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On February 19, the Maratha king's birth anniversary, he is scheduled to inaugurate the first phase of Shivsrushti, a historical theme park celebrating the life and courage of Maratha king Shivaji.

The park, which is being created at a cost of Rs 438 crore, is the brainchild of history researcher Babasaheb Purandare and spans 21 acres in Ambegaon Budhruk. It will be finished in four stages. The first phase of work is complete, and the state government has contributed Rs 60 crore. Purandare himself had also raised some money through his lectures. The scholar had died a few years before.

The MVA is giving the BJP a fight in Kasba and Chinchwad. The byelection was called owing to the deaths of BJP members Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap, who represented the Kasba and Chinchwad seats, respectively. The MVA — an alliance of the Congress, the NCP, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena — is contesting the byelection as a unit, and it would be the first time since the MVA government's collapse that common voters will vote.

While Congress will compete for the Kasba seat, the NCP will run from Chinchwad. The MVA is jointly campaigning for its candidates, while the BJP has brought in 40 prominent campaigners, including four Union ministers from the state.