NASHIK, FEB 23: The President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, Ranjit Deshmukh, today said the Sena-BJP alliance government in the state was on the brink of a collapse.He said 22 independent MLAs were already campaigning for his party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, indicating the imminent fall of Manohar Joshi.
Addressing a press conference, Deshmukh said his party had told all 44 Independents supporting the Shiv-BJP government in the state that they would be welcomed in the Congress if they acted before the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, ENS reports from Aurangabad say that Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde said on Monday he had no doubts on the loyalty of 30 independent MLAs supporting the alliance. ``They are very much with us and have all actively campaigned for our candidates'' he said on the way to back from Beed, which went to polls on February 22.
The senior BJP leader said he hoped the alliance would win about 30 to 33 seats in the state. Asked whether the RPI-SPtie up with the Congress was a big blow to the BJP-Shiv Sena, specially in Marathwada-Vidarba, Munde said the Dalits were not happy with Sharad Pawar on his failure to give them the promised 25 pc representation in the previous State Assembly elections.
Munde said the Election Officer at his native Beed had refused his party permission to arrange for transportation of thousands of farm labourers, who move out of the district in this season, resulting in the fall of voting percentage to 50 - the lowest in the region.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
