Maha Assembly bypoll: Voting for Uddhav-led Sena faction would mean supporting NCP and Cong, says BJP

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday expressed confidence that his party will win the upcoming bypoll to Andheri East Assembly seat in Mumbai and claimed every vote to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction would mean supporting the NCP and Congress.

The November 3 bypoll, necessitated due to the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke, will be a straight contest between the opposition ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ party and the ruling combination of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction.

It is the first electoral contest after the split in the Shiv Sena that led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government a few months backs and the freezing of the ”bow and arrow” symbol of the parent Shiv Sena by the Election Commission.

Rutuja Latke, the widow of Ramesh Latke, is the candidate of the Thackeray faction backed by the NCP and Congress.

She will face Murji Patel of BJP who is supported by the ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’, the new nomenclature for the group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Bawankule alleged that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government (headed by Uddhav Thackeray and comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress) ”cheated” the state during its two-and-a-half years rule. ”It was a headless state-like situation in Maharashtra during that period,” he claimed.

Bawankule expressed confidence that the BJP will win the Andheri East Assembly by-election. ”Every vote to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena means a vote to the NCP and the Congress which have consistently insulted our icon and freedom fighter late V D Savarkar,” the BJP leader said.