Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged the Election Commission (EC) is completely compromised and said its decision to recognise the faction led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde as the Shiv Sena and allot it the bow and arrow symbol was dangerous for democracy.
He said the acronym CM of Maharashtra currently stands for a corrupt man, and that the illegal and unconstitutional chief minister will surely go.
Addressing a meeting of the party workers in North Mumbai, Thackeray said the flaming torch (Mashaal) symbol allotted to Shiv Sena (UBT) is the only light that will brighten the darkness caused by the betrayal and back-stabbing.
He said the rebel MLAs led by Shinde had done the dirty work of toppling a government which had done good work of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating hardships of farmers affected by the cyclone and unseasonably rains when in power.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government was leading Maharashtra to a golden period. An investment of Rs 6.5 lakh crore was made during the MVA rule of 2.5 years and 93 per cent of the investment proposals had been implemented, the former minister said.
He said the most important work of the MVA government was granting a loan waiver to farmers. Maharashtra didn’t like betrayals and this is the reason the local body elections, which are overdue, are not being held, the Worli MLA said.
Thackeray said none of the 40 MLAs who defected to the Shinde camp has categorically stated that they haven’t taken money to do so. The Thackeray camp has alleged the exchange of money in rebel MLAs switching their loyalties to the Shinde camp and often taunts them with 50 khoke (boxes) jibe.