Maharashtra / Priyanka Chaturvedi takes dig at Amruta Fadnavis over Axis Bank row

Mumbai: Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, has launched a fresh attack on the Shiv Sena over the Thane Municipal Corporation's move to shift salary accounts from Axis Bank to a nationalised bank. Ms Fadnavis is a senior executive at Axis Bank.

"Having a bad leader was not Maharashtra's fault - but staying with one is," Ms Fadnavis tweeted, adding, "Jaago (wake up) Maharashtra".

She added a report by The Economic Times newspaper in her tweet where she said she would continue to criticise the Uddhav Thackeray government over the issue. "The accounts were bagged by Axis Bank much before I married Devendra... during the tenure of the Congress-NCP regime. Private banks are also Indian banks and provide superior technological services. The government should think rationally. By doing this (shifting the accounts), they are trying to target Devendra and me," Ms Fadnavis told the newspaper.

Last but not the least, a tip to Ms. Fadnavis, judging Maharashtra and teaching Maharashtrians what to do definitely doesn’t come under the purview of an employee of @AxisBank .
Those who scribble walls should learn to read the writing on the wall. Jai Maharashtra. https://t.co/oL8kUKieq6

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) December 29, 2019

The Maharashtra Police's salary accounts worth Rs 11,000 crore a year may also be transferred to a public sector bank (PSB), news agency Press Trust of India reported.

Responding to Ms Fadnavis, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said she was "surprised" that the Axis Bank executive was calling the matter "vendetta".

"Surprised that she is calling it vendetta because if it were, she agrees that the former CM favoured moving accounts to Axis Bank as she was employed there. If decision to move accounts was business as usual with zilch involvement of her and former CM then where is the question of targeting?" Ms Chaturvedi said.

"In fact, after reading the interview I urge the Maharashtra government to investigate how moving accounts to Axis bank isn't a clear case of conflict of interest. Also investigate whether any/how much CSR was given to the BJP schemes by Axis Bank after moving the accounts?" the Sena leader said, referring to corporate social responsibility of the private bank.

The war of words between Ms Fadnavis and Ms Chaturvedi began when the Axis Bank executive tweeted to attack Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray while responding to her husband's comment condemning Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his "My name is not Rahul Savarkar" remark.

The Shiv Sena-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine came to power in Maharashtra after the BJP could not muster up the number needed to form government.