MUMBAI: BJP MLA
Ashish Shelar on Wednesday hit out at NCP minister
Nawab Malik over his allegations against opposition leader and former Maharashtra chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis.
At a press conference, Shelar said that Malik had claimed that he would detonate a hydrogen bomb but it turned out to be a fused firecracker that did not burst. Shelar said that Malik seems to have become so helpless that he would need oxygen now.
“Malik had said that he would detonate a hydrogen bomb but it seems that it was a fused firecracker that did not burst. Malik has become so helpless that forget hydrogen, I think he might need oxygen now. He has made bogus allegations against Devendra Fadnavis and all of them are baseless. By dropping names and making claims of an international racket, calls from abroad and extortion, he tried to create a false narrative, but his attempts have failed,” Shelar said.
He added that all the appointments made under the Fadnavis-led government were legal and none of those appointed had any criminal case against them. “He has taken the names of Haider Azam, Imran Alam Shaikh -- younger brother of Haji Arfaz Shaikh -- and Munna Yadav. None of them had any criminal cases.
Munna Yadav had political cases against him and he will speak out about this himself soon. The MVA government has been in power for two years but could not register any case or offence against these people. Malik spoke about
Riyaz Bhati too. There is no connection of Riyaz Bhati and the prime minister or the PMO,” Shelar said.
Shelar showed photos of Riyaz Bhati with Congress and NCP leaders like
Prithviraj Chavan, Ajit Pawar and even chief minister
Uddhav Thackeray. “We don’t want to show photos and defame senior leaders. Taking names, showing photos of senior leaders and creating a sensation is not the tradition of our party. But see the photos and ask yourself who is seen with whom. It looks like Nawab Malik has lost his mental balance and he must actually calm down and think about what he is saying. It looks like the supply of herbal tobacco has stopped, that is why he is making such weird statements. Malik stooped to the lowest level in politics and this was not expected. We can now call this new low in politics as the ‘Nawabi low’,” Shelar said.
On Riyaz Bhati, about whom Malik had alleged that had links with Devendra Fadnavis, Shelar said that it was the MVA government that was protecting Bhati. “Malik said that he is absconding but it seems that the MVA government has taken him to a safe place and is protecting him. Some top leaders of the MVA had even given him protection in cricket politics. Malik has been dragging names of all minority community members and leaders. He dragged the name of
Shah Rukh Khan and even Mumbai city guardian minister, the Congress’s Aslam Shaikh. He is also dragging the names of other upcoming leaders from the minority community," Shelar said.
He added, "It seems that Malik wants to target leaders from the minority community, defame them and destroy their political prospects permanently. We urge the MVA leadership to take note of this."