Last Updated:
Bag checking of leaders created a row in Maharashtra, which BJP countered by sharing video of Fadnavis’ luggage frisking.
Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray (PTI Image)
The political atmosphere is heating up in Maharashtra with just a week to go for the polling in the Assembly Elections next week. The fight has now come down to the checking of political leaders’ bags by authorities.
Shiv Sena UBT is at loggerheads with the ruling BJP over the checking of Uddhav Thackeray’s bags at Yavatmal where he is heard asking the officials if they also check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah or Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
“I won’t stop you. You are following your responsibility. Search whatever you want to search. But did you search bags of Devendra Fadnavis, Narendra Modi, or Amit Shah?” Thackeray is heard saying in a video doing rounds on social media.
BJP Responds With Fadnavis’ Video
The BJP on Wednesday shared the video of Fadnavis arriving at Kolhapur airport and his bags being checked by the authorities.
“Let it be, some leaders are just used to creating a spectacle,” the Maharashtra BJP posted on X without naming Uddhav.
The party said that Fadnavis’ bags were also checked, however, he did not “cause any uproar”.
“At Yavatmal, our leader Devendra Fadnavis’s bag was checked. But he neither made a video nor caused any uproar. Before that, on November 5th, Devendra Fadnavis’s bags were also checked at Kolhapur Airport. (This is the video from November 5th),” the BJP said.
जाऊ द्या, काही नेत्यांना तमाशा करण्याची सवयच असते!हा व्हीडिओ पहा, 7 नोव्हेंबरला यवतमाळ जिल्ह्यात आमचे नेते मा. देवेंद्रजी फडणवीस यांच्या बॅगची तपासणी झाली. पण, त्यांनी ना कोणता व्हीडिओ काढला, ना कोणती आगपाखड केली. तत्पूर्वी, 5 नोव्हेंबर रोजी कोल्हापूर विमानतळावर सुद्धा मा.… pic.twitter.com/ebkuigJE2E— भाजपा महाराष्ट्र (@BJP4Maharashtra) November 13, 2024
Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut earlier alleged that Rs 25 crores have reached the places where CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CMs Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar are contesting.
Maharashtra Assembly Elections
The last days of campaigning for the Maharashtra polls have seen political blame games in the intense rallies. While the BJP is batting for the voters’ “unity” and hoping for consolidation of the SC-ST and OBC votes, the Opposition is also hoping to replicate its Lok Sabha poll show when the MVA outperformed the Mahayuti.
Maharashtra will go to Assembly polls in a single phase on November 20 and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.