The BJP "washing machine" is now washing a Shiv Sainik who has become a minister in the Maharashtra cabinet after having been forced to resign when the saffron party was in the Opposition, the Congress said on Thursday. The swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was an apparent reference to the induction of rebel Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Rathod into the state cabinet.

Rathod, who was a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, had resigned last year after his name was linked to the death of a woman in Pune. "Congressmen with skeletons in their cupboards took advantage of the BJP Washing Machine to become CMs, Ministers, MPs & MLAs," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.