Betrayal of people's mandate, 'illegitimate' Maha govt formation will self-destruct: Cong

Mumbai: The Congress hit out at Devendra Fadnavis being sworn-in as the Maharashtra chief minister on Saturday, saying it was a “betrayal of people’s mandate” and the “illegitimate” government formation will self-destruct.

The month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically on Saturday with the BJP’s Fadnavis returning as the chief minister, backed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

NCP’s Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy chief minister.

“This is called betrayal of people’s mandate and giving contract for killing democracy,” Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a tweet.

He also tagged media reports on allegations of Ajit Pawar’s involvement in scams.

“Lust for power washes away principles and corruption,” Surjewala said on Twitter, tagging a September tweet of Fadnavis in which he had said the BJP will never ally with the NCP as it had “exposed” the latter’s corruption.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who was at the forefront of the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena negotiations, said illegal and evil manoeuvres took place in the secrecy of midnight.

“Such was the shame that they had to do the swearing-in hiding. This illegitimate formation will self destruct,” he said in a tweet.