Mumbai: A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for levelling allegations against Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ridiculed Raj Thackeray saying that the latter is performing stand up comedy in the state.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis mocked the MNS leader saying that he is dancing at others’ weddings. Senior BJP leader and education minister Vinod Tawde said that the stand up comedy show would be held at many place in coming days.
Addressing a poll rally on Saturday at Bhokar in Nanded for BJP candidate Pratap Patil Chikhalikar, chief minister said the MNS (abbreviated as ‘manse’ in Marathi) has become ‘unse’ (‘ummedvaar nasleli sena’ - a party devoid of candidates).
Mr Fadnavis further said that the Congress leader Ashok Chavan had brought a leader on rent for his campaigning. With the help of tenant leader, Mr Chavan is seeking the mandate.
Mr Tawde said, “The MNS chief is not campaigning for his party's candidate but is appealing to elect the Congress and NCP’s candidate. Therefore, we are going to demand from the Election Commission that the expenditure of Raj Thackeray’s public rally would be added to the expenditure of the Congress and the NCP's candidates.”
The BJP has also written a letter to Ashwani Kumar, state’s chief electoral officer (CEO), seeking to know which Lok Sabha candidate would incur the cost of MNS chief Raj Thackeray's political rallies.
Mr Tawde said in the letter, “The commission should then clarify for whom are the rallies being conducted and which candidate will bear the expenses for his rallies.”
The letter further said the rallies, which have been held by Mr Thackeray, are aimed at defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and making Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and NCP president Sharad Pawar’s candidates win the Lok Sabha elections.
Slamming Mr Fadnavis, the MNS chief on Friday said that the drought situation in the state was tense; Mr Fadnavis conspired to divert the water of Godavari River to Gujarat at the same time when the regions in Maharashtra were fighting for the water.
Mr Thackeray had also alleged that Mr Fadnavis was a ‘planted’ chief minister.
Rebutting the allegations, Mr Fadnavis said that as MNS chief does not have to fight elections and therefore, he can speak what he wishes to without giving any proof for his claims.
He said, “Mr Thackeray says I am a planted chief minister. However, the people of the state have planted me.”
Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading.
