Maharashtra: Congress raises heat on Fadnavis; Amit Shah runs to Matoshree

Six days after Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray termed the May 28 Palghar Lok Sabha bypolls "a farce", the Congress party on June 5 lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission alleging violations of the Model Code of Conduct by Maharashtra BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The complaint details various instances whereby Fadnavis allegedly violated the Model Code of Conduct in force during the election, making announcements of various schemes, missing voters names and other discrepancies.

Ex-MP and defeated Congress candidate in Palghar Damodar Shingada demanded strong action against Fadnavis and other concerned officials. Shingada pointed out that during the election, the Congress complained to the Returning Officers several times regarding these violations but no action was taken against them by the EC.

The Congress highlighted the following issues in its complaint against Fadnavis:

• CM Devendra Fadnavis' announcements promising waiver of 'khavati' loans and disbursal of new 'khavati' loans for tribals
• Announcement of a new medical college in Palghar
• Excluding 29 villages from the jurisdiction of Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation
  Fadnavis' alleged controversial statement exhorting BJP workers to use "Saam Daam, Dand Bhed" to win Palghar elections at any cost, which Shingada described as a threat to 'the people and opposition parties'
• Alleged instances of BJP workers caught distributing cash at the behest of the local district party chief, and
• Violation of the ₹70 lakh spending limit by the winning BJP candidate Rajendra Gavit.
  

The plea also pointed out how a large number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)—282 in Palghar and 250 in Bhandara-Gondiya— were down due to technical glitches for hours, the shocking instance of two Election Officers transporting the EVMs post-polling in a private car and names of many voters missing in Palghar. On May 31, Thackeray too had charged that large-scale manipulations were carried out in the EVMs with the knowledge of the EC officials.

In the two Lok Sabha bypolls in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party retained the Palghar seat trouncing their main Sena rival, but it lost the Bhandara-Gondiya seat to the Nationalist Congress Party.

Amit Shah to court Uddhav Thackeray to return to poll alliance

Hoping to repair the severely strained relations between the two alliance partners, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah will call on Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, party sources said on Tuesday. The meeting will come a couple of days after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis exhorted his party workers to work hard for an alliance with the Sena.

This will be the second summit between Shah and Thackeray. The first took place exactly a year ago when the BJP chief called on the Sena supremo in June 2017 to seek his support in the Presidential election.

The meeting is officially described as part of an outreach programme by the BJP to mollify its allies and build bridges before the 2019 parliamentary battle.

The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been bitterly targeted by Thackeray and his party in recent times. The relations between the two partners plummeted to a new low when Shiv Sena 'hijacked' Shriniwas Vanga, the son of late BJP MP Chintaman Vanga from Palghar, and gave him the party ticket for the May 28 Palghar Lok Sabha bypolls. A raging BJP inducted former Congressman Rajendra Gavit, who defeated Vanga.

In a guarded initial reaction, Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut pointed out how the ruling National Democratic Alliance partners were not satisfied with the BJP and leaving it one by one. But he refused to speculate whether the Sena would reconsider its oft-repeated stance of going solo in all future elections and pointed out that the party did extremely well and showed its strength in Palghar, which it contested for the first time ever.

Inputs by NH Web Desk