The Hindu (Kolkata)

‘Voting for Modi means voting for destructio­n’

If the INDIA bloc gets majority, Enforcemen­t Directorat­e, Central Bureau of Investigat­ion will barge into homes of current dispensati­on: Uddhav

- EMMANUAL YOGINI

f the INDIA bloc gets majority, Enforcemen­t Directorat­e (ED), Income Tax (I-T) and Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI) o‚cials will barge into the homes of the current dispensati­on in the same manner as theirs, declared Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in his address at Ratnagiri on Sunday evening.

“The workers that you currently have — ED, I-T and CBI, they will be with us tomorrow. They will be under us. They way you have been misusing them. I warn these o‚cials that you will face the music,” warned Mr. Thackeray.

Citing the example of the party’s three-time MLA from Rajapur, whose house was raided this January by the Maharashtr­a Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mr. Thackeray said, “The way you entered our Rajan Salvi’s home, tomorrow after we get the majority, we won’t stay back from entering your homes.”

In Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituen­cy, Vinayak Raut from the Sena (UBT) is pitted against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Narayan Rane, who once belonged to the undivided Shiv Sena. In the 2019 general election, Mr.

IShiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Rane’s son, Nilesh Rane, contesting on Maharashtr­a Swabhiman Paksha, ended up in the third spot.

In the 2014 poll, Mr. Nilesh Rane, contesting on a Congress ticket, was defeated by Mr. Raut.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Thackeray remembered late Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stating that he

must be crying seeing his party’s present condition.

Seeks apology

“Voting for Modi means voting for destructio­n,” said the Sena (UBT) chief while apologisin­g for seeking support for Mr. Modi during the previous Lok Sabha election. “You heard me back then. Now, I ask you the opposite. You must keep BJP at bay. I request you to follow me, precisely the way you did during the COVID pandemic.”

While seeking support for Mr. Raut, the former Chief Minister lambasted the candidate’s political rival without naming him. “Had you all not given support, Konkan would have seen goons ruling this land,” Mr. Thackeray said. rithiviraj Chavan, chairman of the Congress’s Maharashtr­a Lok Sabha election campaign committee, explains why the party did not give even a single ticket in the State to a Muslim candidate and the shift in vote dynamics on the ground. Edited excerpts:

PThis time, the Maharashtr­a Lok Sabha election is a lot dierent from the rest of India.

Well, there are three political parties on either side, substantia­l parties, which

Prithviraj Chavan at a meeting of party workers in Karad, Maharashtr­a.

is not there in any other contest I think. Even for Maharashtr­a, it is happening for the œrst time. So, I think the future of the two splits will be decided.

How will the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) dent the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) prospects this time?

I think it is trying to split

You must keep BJP at bay. I request you to follow me, precisely the way you did during the COVID pandemic UDDHAV THACKERAY

Shiv Sena (UBT) president

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