Mumbai, July 9 (IANS) Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) on Thursday accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of running a “rumour-manufacturing factory” to cause political instability and deflect attention from core issues plaguing the state.

In a strongly worded editorial in the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Thackeray camp reacted sharply to the Chief Minister’s recent announcement that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) layout in Maharashtra will remain unchanged, with no new parties joining. It claimed that the statement exposed how “helpless and confused” the Chief Minister has become due to commands dictated by central leaders in Delhi.

The editorial directly accused the BJP camp of deliberately spreading a narrative that the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP) was considering an entry into the NDA.

Labelling the BJP as a “rumour-manufacturing factory” and naming the Chief Minister as its “Chairman”, the editorial took aim at the ruling party’s IT operations. “At least two thousand salaried individuals work in this factory, commonly known as the IT Cell, costing millions of rupees monthly. It is because the Chief Minister has successfully built these rumour factories that he has ironically earned the title of ‘Inframan’. Whenever there is a need to deflect from Maharashtra’s core issues, this factory pumps out misinformation to trigger chaos in the state,” the editorial stated.

The Thackeray faction outlined what it called a calculated sequence of false narratives generated by the “Devendra Factory” concerning the NCP(SP). “First, claiming that NCP(SP) Members of Parliament (MPs) were breaking away. When that failed, generating rumors of a total party merger with the NDA. Finally, claiming a merger between both factions of the NCP while excluding Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar,” it said.

The editorial asserted that only Sharad Pawar himself could state the absolute truth, while dismissing the narrative surrounding recent political meetings. Addressing specific reports of political crossovers, the editorial clarified recent interactions involving top Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders. It stated that a recent meeting between Sharad Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis was an official assembly dedicated entirely to the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, attended by a 20-to-25-member delegation, including the Maharashtra Ekikiaran Samiti of Belagavi.

The editorial termed the narrative of secret NDA merger talks taking place during such a meeting as “ridiculous”. Similarly, the editorial defended NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil following rumours regarding his brief interaction with BJP leader Vinod Tawde at a Mumbai hotel. Quoting Patil’s clarification, the editorial explained that Patil had simply gone to meet MP Supriya Sule during a recess of a Parliamentary Committee meeting, where Tawde was also present as a member.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction lamented that standard public interactions among elected representatives are being weaponised with fake news to sow seeds of suspicion within the MVA alliance. It noted that Shiv Sena(UBT) MP Arvind Sawant is also on the same committee, meaning leaders routinely sit next to each other as part of standard parliamentary

The editorial underscored what it described as a fundamental, deteriorating shift in Maharashtra’s governance, claiming that decisions are dictated entirely from Delhi while local leaders are merely instructed at the final hour. It alleged that the BJP breaks opposition parties and splits sitting MPs and MLAs not through goodwill, but through “fund bullying”, financial muscle, and the deployment of central investigative agencies.

The editorial declared that aligning with the National Democratic Alliance at this stage would be nothing short of “political suicide” for any regional force. It dismissed the possibility of Union Home Minister Amit Shah welcoming the original NCP(SP) while Ajit Pawar’s faction is already part of the Mahayuti alliance, calling the logic “senseless”.

Turning its focus to national and local governance, the Thackeray camp highlighted a broader decline for the ruling party, alleging that the BJP is facing nationwide embarrassment over corruption and looting accusations related to the Ram Temple, which it claims has alienated its core voter base. It further took aim at federal leadership, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity is “sliding down like the rupee” while Amit Shah faces internal opposition.

The Thackeray camp expressed astonishment at the Chief Minister’s functioning style. It strongly criticised Fadnavis for remaining tight-lipped on serious issues, specifically pointing to a recent “murderous assault” on a female doctor in the Thane district by individuals allegedly linked to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Instead of prioritising critical law-and-order and ethical situations, the editorial concluded, the Chief Minister is speaking “with relish” on trivial political manoeuvres, a behaviour it attributed to intense frustration over being bypassed by high-command decisions made in Delhi.

–IANS

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