Mumbai, Mar 28 (The Hindu): The Shiv Sena on Sunday criticised ally BJP for appointing Shrihari Aney as Maharashtra’s Advocate General in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna , claiming his appointment will cost the state more than the Mughal invasion of India.

Aney resigned as Advocate General last week following an uproar over his remarks at a public function on the need for carving out a separate Marathwada state.

“The Chief Minister is from Vidarbha and did not stop him (Aney) at his first mistake (when Aney had made a reference to this during the winter session of the Assembly). We are not questioning Aney’s abilities, but his mentality. Appointing such a person as Maharashtra’s Advocate General is like appointing Hafiz Saeed as Pakistan’s high commissioner in Delhi,” Sena MP Sanjay Raut said in his column in the Saamna.

Claiming it to be a strategy to appoint Aney as AG to re-ignite the debate over separate statehood for Vidarbha, Raut said endorsement of his views by a BJP leader shows that it was well-planned ploy. Taking a dig at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after one of its ideologues, MG Vaidya, advocated the need for four states to be carved out of Maharashtra, Mr Raut said though the RSS makes several statements, none are actually implemented at the national level.

“Are these efforts to cover the failures (to deliver on their promises) in every other state? There is the Vemula episode in Hyderabad, Kanhaiya in Delhi and Maharashtra gets this (statehood issue). This is really shocking. It is not right to destabilise a state running with good governance and push it towards a situation of conflict,” the editorial said.

Asking Aney to learn from the example set by Karnataka Congress leader and former Maharashtra Governor SM Krishna, the editorial said Krishna never spoke against the state's interests in discussions on the contentious Belgaum and Karwar issue.

Raut said the endorsement of Aney's views by a BJP leader shows it was well-planned.