Mumbai, June 23 -- Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Kailas Patil on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Mahayuti government, accusing it of leveraging development funds as a political tool to coerce opposition leaders into defecting.
Patil alleged that the ruling coalition is systematically stalling development funds for constituencies represented by opposition members, from the level of Sarpanchs to Members of Parliament.
"Leaders who have defected from our party frequently cite the lack of development funds as the reason for their switch. However, it is evident from their own admissions that the ruling party is deliberately stalling these funds to hold opposition representatives hostage," Patil said.
He termed this practice as "dirty p...