Baba Siddique murder: Shinde and Fadnavis should quit, demands Cong's Ragini Nayak

New Delhi: Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak has demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis over the murder of NCP leader and former state minister Baba Siddique.

Speaking to IANS, the Congress leader said, "Look, law and order is completely shattered. Justice and policy are absent in Maharashtra and Mumbai. If a person like Baba, who was very prominent and popular in society, a three-time MLA and former minister, and whose son Zeeshan is himself an MLA in the Maharashtra Assembly, can be openly murdered, then it's a serious concern. If contract killers can threaten and kill him, then a legitimate question arises: Who is responsible for the safety of the lives and property of the common citizens of Maharashtra and Mumbai?"

“…And the way the silence has prevailed on the issue, Devendra Vallabh is silent, Shinde is silent and Amit Shah, who is boasting of the double-engine government, is completely silent. I want to know why an impartial investigation has not been announced yet after taking the responsibility,” she argued.

Ragini Nayak said, “Rahul Gandhi ji and Mallikarjun Kharge ji tweeted that administration and government must take responsibility so that people would know how it happened … another shocking news has come out that some gangsters sitting in jail are taking responsibility… they are saying they killed him.”

“…So for whom are these investigating agencies active? Are they only to tighten the screws on opposition parties or is it the job of investigation agencies to eliminate gangs? …And if an iota of morality is left in the Bharatiya Janata Party and their ‘thagbandhan’ (allies), then Devendra Fadnavis, Shinde and Amit Shah should resign,” she told IANS.

Talking about Haryana election results, she raised questions on the veracity of EVMs.

“Pawan Kheda ji and Jairam Ramesh ji had said in a press conference that there are three districts from where EVMs were found 99 per cent charged. So how can EVMs be 99 per cent charged? Congress lost from those four districts only, how can this be possible? Wherever EVMs were 60-70 per charged, Congress was ahead there. Congress' vote has increased by 11 per cent since last time, but the seats did not appear to be increasing in that proportion,” the Congress leader claimed.