Follow Constitution or Congress will quit: Ashok Chavan to Shiv Sena

Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan

The Congress has threatened to quit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if any ally violates the Constitution preamble. Congress leader and minister Ashok Chavan said the Shiv Sena had given a written undertaking to the party leadership in Delhi that the coalition government would run within the ambit of the Constitution.

The caution is significant in view of the Congress's demand to table a resolution in the Assembly, declaring that the state would not implement the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The Congress's threat should be a worry for the Sena that hasn't made a concrete commitment on the CAA issue yet. It had earlier only hinted that the amended law won't be implemented in Maharashtra.

Chavan first issued the warning at a function in his hometown Nanded on Sunday and reiterated the statement on Monday.

"The Congress high command had asked us to get in writing from the Sena that it would follow the Constitution in running the government. They [Congress leadership] said the Congress would exit the day the Constitution is violated. We are not in the government for power but to do good work for public," he said.

"We conveyed the same to Uddhav Thackeray and he agreed, and went ahead to form the government," Chavan added.

However, the Sena said it has made no such promise on paper, and that the MVA's common minimum programme would guide the new dispensation. Sena leader and cabinet minister Eknath Shinde told media that he has no idea about such a promise.

"The senior leaders of the three parties have decided how to run the MVA government," he added.

Congress-run states Punjab and Rajasthan, West Bengal and Kerala have passed a resolution rejecting CAA, despite knowing that the Centre could bulldoze their decision.

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