Uddhav Thackeray backs Rahul Gandhi’s claims on Maha elections, says ‘masks off’ in Saamana

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) has targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of ‘match-fixing’ in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, stating that a fiery ‘demon has entered the ruling party’.

Thackeray camp claimed that Rahul Gandhi has exposed the corrupt handshake of the BJP and the Election Commission of India. The ‘makeup’ of people like Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was spoiled because of this. Before shaking the dust off the faces of others, they should look at their own faces in the mirror. Now the makeup is completely off.

In a scathing editorial in the party’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the Thackeray camp said that Rahul Gandhi is sitting on the constitutional post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. “When Modi-Shah was in power, they did not allow Congress to get the post of Leader of Opposition, but this time the people gave strength to Rahul Gandhi, and he became the Leader of Opposition. Therefore, considering his allegations as mere complaints, the Election Commission should take ‘suo motu’ action, but will Modi-Shah allow it? That is the question.”

“Rahul Gandhi expressed his views on the Maharashtra Assembly elections through democratic means. For this, he wrote articles in many newspapers of the country and gave detailed information about how the Election Commission stole the Maharashtra elections. Maharashtra defeated Modi and company in the Lok Sabha elections. The dream of ‘Ab ki baar char sao par’ was lost because of Maharashtra. Maharashtra’s determination was so strong. After that, the Assembly elections were held within six months. However, in this election, Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena did not get even 50 seats together. How can such a reversal happen in just six months after the Lok Sabha elections? Does anyone understand this? Rahul Gandhi revealed in his article how all this match-fixing took place in the Maharashtra elections with the help of the Election Commission, how all this is harmful to democracy and how the same ‘match-fixing’ pattern will be implemented in the Bihar Assembly elections coming after Maharashtra,” said the editorial.

The Shiv Sena(UBT) said in the editorial that the Modi government did many tricks to control the Maharashtra Assembly elections, including getting whatever panel it wanted in the Election Commission. Rahul Gandhi talked about the scams in the voter list and the increase in voters by 60-70 lakh, and also voting after 5 p.m. He raised this crucial question.

“Rahul Gandhi’s demand is simple. One of his demands is to publish a consolidated digital machine-readable voter list for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections of all states, including Maharashtra, and the other is to make public all the CCTV footage of polling stations in Maharashtra after 5 p.m. Instead of directly answering Rahul Gandhi’s questions, the Election Commission has appointed BJP leaders as lawyers. Since Rahul Gandhi wrote an article, Maharashtra Chief Minister Fadnavis tried to answer Rahul Gandhi by writing an article. It is a serious matter for a political party to advocate for the Election Commission. Again, Fadnavis took the support of Urdu poetry for this. Since the results of the Maharashtra elections were a robbery, Fadnavis, the main beneficiary of this robbery, became possessed and started speaking in Urdu,” said the Thackeray camp.

“You kept making this mistake, there was dust on your face, and you kept wiping your eyes, Fadnavis said about Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi’s arrows have penetrated the hearts of Fadnavis and others. The Election Commission murdered the Constitution. To gain power in Maharashtra, Amit Shah split the two regional parties, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress, and it was approved without considering the 10th schedule of the Anti-Defection Act. All this is unconstitutional,” claimed the editorial.

“Handing over the original party Shiv Sena to the ‘unknown’ upstart Eknath Shinde with the bow and arrow symbol and in the same way putting the Nationalist Congress Party in the pocket of Ajit Pawar during Sharad Pawar’s lifetime was part of the conspiracy to steal the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. The Election Commission participated in this organised crime. Now, the Election Commission is advising Rahul Gandhi to file a written complaint about his objections. This is a cowardly attempt to clean the mud from its face. The people of the Bharatiya Janata Party are seen cleaning the dirt from the face of the Election Commission. Many complaints and objections have been registered with the Election Commission after the results of the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Election Commission, which is slow to take action on them, is pretending to be lenient about Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, saying, “Rahul should give his allegations in writing. Then we will see,” said the editorial.

IANS