Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the opposition INDIA alliance against the BJP will not succeed in elections as it lacks unanimous leadership.
He said top figures of prominent INDIA bloc members are not ready to accept leadership of any one individual from other constituents.
"The (prominent) leaders of parties in the INDIA alliance are not ready to accept the leadership of other parties (of the bloc) and hence they are making statements against each other every day," Mr. Fadnavis told reporters in Indore.
The BJP leader was in Madhya Pradesh to take part in the saffron outfit's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' (March for People's Blessings) taken out ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
"The number of prominent leaders in the INDIA alliance is double than the number of political parties which are part of the bloc. Most parties in the alliance do not exist beyond their home state. In such a situation, even if these parties contest elections unitedly, it is not going to yield any positive result,” the deputy chief minister said.
Citing an example, Mr. Fadnavis asserted the INDIA alliance, which has more than two dozen members, is not going to benefit in terms of garnering votes if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav campaign in each other's state.
Reacting to DMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's controversial remarks on Sanatana Dharma, Mr. Fadnavis said, "Although no one in the country should speak against another person's religion, but if you speak against Islam and Christianity, there will be a huge ruckus.” "Those who speak against Sanatana Dharma are calling themselves secular. There is no bigger foolishness than this,” he remarked.
Mr. Fadnavis said people will show leaders who make statements against Sanatana Dharma their place when time comes and added the ancient faith will never get destroyed.
On former Congress president Sonia Gandhi announcing 6 electoral "guarantees" to the voters of Telangana ahead of the assembly polls, ranging from monthly dole to women to subsided LPG cylinders, the BJP leader claimed the country's oldest political often misleads people.
The Congress has not been able to fulfil any pre-poll guarantee in any state till date, he said.
In response to a question, Mr. Fadnavis took a dig at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and said it was not necessary to take his statements seriously as he forgets by the evening what he had said in the morning.
