Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said the Opposition was seeking his resignation over the land allotment issue as it wants to mask its failure to win the Gram Panchayat polls.
The Opposition demanded the CM's resignation after the Bombay High Court ordered the status quo on the decision taken by Shinde as a minister in the erstwhile MVA government of allotting land meant for slum dwellers to private persons.
“They have no right to ask for my resignation. They did not ask for resignation from those who went to jail. This is an attempt to mask their failure in the gram panchayat polls,” Shinde told reporters in the state legislature complex here where the winter session of the legislature is underway.
The HC granted status quo in its recent order on a petition filed by a Nagpur-based social activist alleging the Nagpur Improvement Trust, a local planning authority constituted under the state government's urban development department, gave away land to politicians and others at meagre rates when Shinde was a minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Addressing reporters along with Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the "resounding victory" in recently-held gram panchayat polls is the vindication of decisions taken by the Shinde-BJP government.
"The Opposition wanted to hit and run by making allegations against Shinde but the government gave them a befitting reply," he added.
The ruling BJP on Tuesday claimed a "historic" victory in Gram Panchayat polls, the results of which were declared earlier in the day. The party claimed to have won 2,482 of 7,582 Gram Panchayats where polling was held on December 18.
Similar claims of victory were made by the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Shinde, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena (UBT), even though the elections were not contested as per party affiliations.
