MUMBAI: Shrihari Aney was hailed as one of the brightest legal aces Maharashtra has ever produced when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis appointed him Advocate-General in October 2015. On Monday, the staunch supporter of the call for a separate Vidarbha state was reduced to a hate figure for saying the Maratha region too should get statehood.
Speaking at a function at Jalna in Marathwada on Sunday, Aney said, “Marathwada state is the need of the hour as it has suffered gross injustice.”
The echo of Aney’s statement was felt in the legislature on Monday, with Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP members disrupting proceedings in both Houses, seeking the ouster of the State’s top law officer.
The Shiv Sena announced that it would boycott Cabinet meetings until Aney quit “because he had indulged in treason”. Though Fadnavis refused to say whether he would ask Aney to step down, a senior BJP minister claimed that Aney had been asked to resign. “The Chief Minister will announce Aney’s resignation on Tuesday in Vidhan Sabha. We don’t want to carry his burden anymore,” he said.