Hegde effect: Cong demands reply from Modi

The Congress upped the ante on Monday over comments made by BJP MP and former Union minister Ananth Hegde regarding welfare funds for Maharashtra being sent back by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during his short stint in office.

Lashing out at the BJP, Randeep Surjewala, media head of the Congress, demanded a reply from the Prime Minister.

Surjewala tweeted on Monday: "A Union minister opened the pandora's box of Modi government, BJP's anti-Maharashtra face has been unmasked. Was the federal structure being trumped? Was Rs 40,000 crore of the welfare funds meant for the welfare of the public and the farmers withdrawn due to a conspiracy? Prime Minister, Reply!"

This rebuttal was in reference to a sensational claim of BJP Karnataka MP Hegde where he said that Fadnavis was sworn in as Maharashtra Chief Minister to prevent central funds worth Rs 40,000 crore from being misused.

Though, Hegde has a track record of making controversial statements on various issues, this statement has clearly given the opposition an opportunity to brand BJP as "anti-Maharashtra".

Fadnavis became Chief Minister despite lacking majority support and Hegde, BJP MP for Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, said over the weekend that these funds would have been misused by an opposition coalition led by the Shiv Sena.

Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister in Maharashtra with Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister, but he resigned before the floor test within a few days and the troika of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress formed the government with Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minister.

( With inputs from IANS )