Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray took a shot at Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party on Sunday (December 8) and said that the party’s Maharashtra unit sometimes behaves like ‘B-team’ of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thackeray’s comment came just a day after SP quit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra. In recently concluded Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Elections 2024, MVA suffered a serious defeat against the ruling Mahayuti who clinched a landslide victory despite pre-poll perception of it being on the backfoot.
“I would not like to comment much on them. Akhilesh Yadav is fighting his fight but the SP here (Maharashtra unit of SP) sometimes behaves like the B team of BJP…Our Hindutva is clear…Our Hindutva is about ‘hriday mein Ram aur haath ko kaam’…Our Hindutva is about taking everyone together…” said Aaditya Thackeray.
The opposition alliance went into a huddle in Mumbai on Sunday in a meeting which saw attendance from key leaders like Aaditya Thackeray, Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar, Nitin Raut, Sunil Prabhu, Jitendra Awhad.
MVA has been alleging that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used to conduct state polls were tampered with.
On Saturday, Thackeray said that victorious candidates of Shiv Sena (UBT) will not take oath of office during the ongoing special session of the Maharashtra Assembly
“Today we have decided that our (Shiv Sena UBT) winning MLAs will not take the oath. If this was the mandate of the people, people would have been happy and celebrated it. However, there was no such celebration or enthusiasm from the public. We have doubts about EVM,” Aaditya Thackeray said on Saturday.
The ruling Mahayuti has rejected the opposition’s claims about EVMs and has said that the MVA was raising false allegations just because it has suffered a heavy defeat.
The Mahayuti has 235 out of 288 assembly seats in its pocket. The MVA could not even reach half-century mark and has had to be content with 46 seats.