Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray ruled out cross-voting in upcoming MLC polls in the state and said that there will be no split in his party-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and ruled out chances of cross-voting.
“We have kept all our MLAs together for tomorrow’s Legislative Council polls. This is called democracy in today’s time,” Thackeray said addressing the Sena Shiv MLAs and senior party leaders on the occasion of the party’s 56th foundation day.
Saying that the party has to work hard to get more MLAs elected in future, Thackeray also said he is not worried about Monday’s MLC elections.
Calling the defeat in the Rajya Sabha polls unfortunate, the CM said that Shiv Sena votes were not split in the RS polls.
“We have an idea of what went wrong. Hence, there is no question of cross-voting tomorrow,” he said adding that Shiv Sena doesn’t have traitors in its midst.
Tomorrow’s election will show that there is no split among us, he said.
He also expressed confidence that both the Shiv Sena candidates – Sachin Ahir and Amshya Padvi – in the MLC polls will emerge as new leaders.
A total of 11 candidates are in the fray for the 10 Council seats up for grabs, with the MVA allies – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – fielding two candidates each. The BJP has nominated five candidates.
In the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls for a total of six seats, the BJP led by Devendra Fadnavis clinched all three seats despite the numbers appearing in favour of the MVA on paper.
In a setback to the MVA, BJP’s third candidate Dhananjay Mahadik defeated Sena’s second nominee Sanjay Pawar.
The CM also said when speaking as a Hindu was considered a crime, his father Balasaheb Thackeray raised the Hindutva aggressively.
