Thane. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule said that if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is confident of his victory then why are the Union ministers and senior BJP leaders across the country campaigning for the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Addressing an election rally of NCP candidate Prakash Tare in Kalyan city of Thane district of Maharashtra, Supriya also termed BJP’s demand for Bharat Ratna award for Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar as “election gimmick”.
Taking a dig at Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been holding several rallies for the BJP in the state, Sule said why he did not go to Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli in August, when these districts were affected by heavy rains and floods. He asked, “When the Chief Minister has said that there is no match for BJP in Maharashtra, then why are the senior leaders of the party including Union ministers, Chief Ministers of various states campaigning in Maharashtra?” Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha member from Baramati Said, “This shows that BJP is not confident of victory.”
In the election manifesto on BJP, Bharat Ratna for Savarkar Taking a dig at the song, Sule said that it is only an “election gimmick”. Sule said that he (Sule) had earlier demanded the highest civilian honors in the Lok Sabha to social reformers Savitribai Phule and Mahatma Phule for their contribution to the society and even submitted a memorandum to Fadnavis regarding their demand.
He accused the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena of “ignoring” many burning issues in the state and diverting people’s attention from them. In his speech, he lauded the development work done in the state by the late NCP leader RR Patil, especially the cleanliness drive undertaken by him.