Anita Saluja/Newindpress

New Delhi, Feb 14: The BJP on Wednesday charged the Congress, which is in power in Maharashtra and at the Centre, with mishandling of the issue relating to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supremo Raj Thackeray who was arrested and granted bail at the end of a 10-day-long drama.

BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said the Congress- led Government in Maharashtra allowed the situation to deteriorate. By giving Thackeray a long rope the Congress made him a hero, instead of acting firmly against him well in time.

Javadekar accused the Congress of adopting the divide and rule policy to promote Thackeray for petty political ends.

“The Congress game plan stands exposed,” he said. Attention was diverted from the serious issues confronting the State, like long hours of load-shedding, farmers’ suicides and developmental activity grinding to a halt.

That the Congress was hand-in-glove with the MNS was evident from its unwillingness to snap ties with the MNS in the six corporations where the parties are working in tandem - Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhainder, Pune, Amravati and Aurangabad, he said.

The Congress is working to a strategy, with an eye on the Maharashtra Assembly polls due in 2009. It wants to dent the BJP-Sena vote base in Maharashtra. The BJP-Sena are rattled, with Raj Thackeray stealing a march in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray is worried by the developments and senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi is in touch with senior BJP leaders here.

The Congress, on its part, declared that there had been no delay in dealing with the situation arising out of the provocative remarks made by Thackeray.

An FIR was filed and investigation carried out. The arrest was effected after making arrangements to prevent any major law and order situation. Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to brief her on the situation and get her nod.