Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a dig at the Shive Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying that is running "nakli" (fake) Shiv Sena.
Speaking at the Lok Sabha election rally in Maharashtra's Ratna Shah said, "Uddhav Thackeray is running fake Shiv Sena, the real Shiv Sena is Eknath Shinde's Sena." Shah challenged Thackeray to take name of Hindu nationalist political ideolog Veer Savarkar in his speech.
Union Home Minister said, "For 70 years, Sharad Pawar and company...they kept feeding Article 370 like an orphan kid...you (people) made Narendra Modi ji, Prime Minister for the second time and on 5th August 2019, he removed Article 370 and Kashmir became part of India forever."
Amit Shah at Lok Sabha Election Rally in Ratnagiri
"I want to ask Uddhav Thackeray, those people, whose feet you fell on to become CM, what those Congress and Sharad Pawar were doing?...they said if Article 370 is removed, there will be a bloodbath in Kashmir. Rahul baba, it has been 5 years and nobody has the guts to pelt stones," Shah attack Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) during his election rally.Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats in Maharashtra.
The polling in the state is being held across five phases. Polling for 11 seats in Maharashtra will be held in the third phase on May 7. Of the 48 seats in the state, voting in 13 was conducted across the first and second phases. The general elections are being held in seven phases in a six-week marathon running from April 19 to June 1.
Polling for the first phase and the second phase was held on April 19 and April 26, respectively. The next round of voting will be held on May 7. The results will be declared on June 4.