"BJP trying everything to stay in power": CPI leader D Raja after Ajit Pawar joins Maharashtra govt

New Delhi [India], July 2 : Even as the Opposition alliance in Maharashtra reeled under the seismic turn of events triggered by the exit of senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar along with a band of loyalist MLAs, CPI leader D Raja on Sunday said the BJP was doing everything to stay in power.

Speaking toafter Pawar met the Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais along with fellow dissident NCP MLAs and took oath as the deputy CM, Raja said, "We should wait and see what impact this would have on the politics of Maharashtra and that of the country. The BJP is doing everything to stay in power."

Earlier, on Sunday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, too, took a dig at the BJP amid the turn of events, saying, "BJP's Washing Machine has resumed its operations."

Ramesh's snide dig at the saffron camp was in line with a pet allegation of the Opposition that whoever joins the BJP gets a clean chit or is magically rid of charges or probes by central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader wrote "Clearly the BJP's Washing Machine has resumed its operations. A number of new entrants into the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra today had been facing serious corruption charges with ED, CBI and Income Tax authorities after them. Now they have all got a clean chit."

"The Congress will intensify its efforts to free Maharashtra from the clutches of the BJP," read the tweet further.

Also, weighing in on the fast-paced political developments in Maharashtra, People's Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, said no words were enough to condemn the manner in which "the BJP has repeatedly undermined the popular mandate in Maharashtra".

Mufti said democracy in the country was being throttled through such developments in the cover of the national anthem. "No words are enough to condemn the manner in which BJP has repeatedly undermined the popular mandate in Maharashtra. Not only is democracy being butchered but they are using the national anthem to provide cover for such disgraceful actions."

"On one hand, BJP is arresting political opponents on trumped-up corruption charges while they themselves are on an MLA purchasing spree. Hard-earned public money is being misused to quench BJPs' thirst for power," Mufti tweeted.

Soon after Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as deputy chief minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the double-engine government in the state has now become "triple-engine and it will run like a bullet train".