Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray claimed that the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra was scared and acting cowardly in the face of Enforcement Directorate action (ED) over alleged irregularities at the COVID mega plant and a reduction in his and his family's protection.
Thackeray said his party was fighting for democracy in the country, which was leading to action by probe agencies of the Union and state governments. Action against his close aides are due to the morcha (protest march) announced for July 1 by the Shiv Sena (UBT) against alleged corruption in the BMC, the former state environment minister claimed.
The government is very scared and they are fighting like cowards by using Central agencies. If you want to fight, we are ready to face the polls, but then they have to come to the battlefield. The country and the world are watching that democracy has been murdered in the state, Thackeray said.
ED, which is probing alleged irregularities in the allotment of contract to a firm to operate a jumbo COVID facility had on Wednesday and Thursday raided some places connected to close aides of Thackeray as well as Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut.
The ED also surveyed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Central Purchase Department office in Byculla in south Mumbai during the day.