New Delhi, Feb 13: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, days after their losses in the Delhi assembly polls, with a message to strengthen the fight for free and fair elections. Aditya Thackeray, on a whirlwind tour of the national capital, also met the party’s parliamentarians amid reports of dissent in the ranks and some leaders planning to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
He met Gandhi late on Wednesday and called on Kejriwal, the former Delhi chief minister, whose party faced defeat in last week’s assembly elections on Thursday.
“Is there any difference between the BJP and the Election Commission (EC)?… I don’t even know where my vote goes. There needs to be more clarity on EVMs (electronic voting machines) and VVPATs (voter-verifiable paper audit trail),” Aditya Thackeray said.
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After calling on Kejriwal, Aditya Thackeray described the meeting as a gesture of friendship.
“Governments keep coming and going but relationships continue. We met Kejriwal as a gesture of friendship. However, our democracy is not free and fair. Elections are not free and fair,” he told reporters after the meeting.
He was accompanied by party MPs Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Sanjay Dina Patil and Bhausaheb Wakchaure, among others.
The Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP) had alleged irregularities in the conduct of last year’s Maharashtra assembly election, claiming that there were more registered voters in the state than its total adult population.
The three parties, which formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) grouping, claimed 39 lakh new voters were added between the Lok Sabha elections in May and the November assembly polls.
“We believe we are in a democracy but perhaps we are robbed of democracy. It is a pretentious democracy,” Aditya Thackeray said, adding that the opposition parties should rally together on the issues of “voter and EVM fraud”.
Aditya Thackeray’s meeting with Gandhi also came against the backdrop of rumblings within the MVA after NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar felicitated Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Shinde, who had toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
In 2022, Shinde walked away with the majority of legislators of the then-undivided Shiv Sena to topple the MVA government.
Shinde became chief minister with support from the BJP and subsequently gained control of the Shiv Sena.
The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won the November assembly election, dealing a body blow to the MVA, which was hoping for an encore after virtually sweeping the state in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena has dubbed Shinde a “traitor” and was shocked to see Sharad Pawar felicitate him with the Mahadji Shinde Rashtra Gaurav Puraskar instituted by Pune-based NGO Sarhad.
Aditya Thackeray also held a meeting of Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs amid reports of dissent in the party ranks and some leaders trying to join the Shiv Sena or the BJP. (PTI)
