Rajya Sabha polls: Shiv Sena accuses Devendra Fadnavis of cornering Sambhaji Chhatrapati

An editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who also heads the Sena, did not backtrack on his word, refuting the charge made by Sambhaji Chhatrapati in a press conference last week when he withdrew from the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls

The Shiv Sena accused BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis of cornering former MP Sambhaji Chhatrapati, who withdrew from the Rajya Sabha poll race after the Sena declined to back his candidature as an independent.

An editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who also heads the Sena, did not backtrack on his word, refuting the charge made by Sambhaji Chhatrapati in a press conference last week when he withdrew from the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls.

"The Shiv Sena has always respected the family of Chhatrapati. CM Uddhav Thackeray did not backtrack on his word.  This is all bad politics of the BJP," the Marathi daily claimed. Separately, talking to the reporters, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut accused the BJP of horse-trading after the latter fielded three candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls to six seats from the state. Raut also claimed that the BJP tried to use Sambhaji Chhatrapati as a "shield".

The BJP has enough votes to win two seats on its own. Maharashtra's ruling alliance partners Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress have the votes to get one candidate each elected separately, but together they can get another candidate elected to the Upper House of Parliament. Banking on this arithmetic, the Sena has decided to field two candidates -Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar - in the elections. Raut said the Sena will win both the seats. The Rajya Sabha tenure of Sambhaji Chhatrapati, a descendant of king Shivaji Maharaj, ended recently. He had announced that he will contest the upcoming election has an independent, and also sought support from the Shiv Sena.

The Sena had said it will back him if he joins the party, which he declined. Later, while announcing his withdrawal from the poll race, Sambhaji Chhatrapati had accused the chief minister of not keeping his word. However, in a press conference on Saturday, Sambhaji's father Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj said it was wrong to claim that the chief minister did not keep his word. He also hinted Fadnavis' role in Sambhaji Chhatrapati's plan to contest as an independent. The Saamana editorial on Monday said, "Fadnavis was never present in the room when the so called word was given. Whatever happened between Sambhaji Chhatrapati and the Shiv Sena was within the four walls. The discussion was limited to whether he should contest as an independent." The Sena dubbed as a joke Fadnavis' claim that Pawar initially announced support to Sambhaji Chhatrapati Sambhaji and then took a 'U' turn. Fadnavis had claimed that Pawar was aware this time that his party will have to give its extra votes to the Shiv Sena for the latter's second seat. Still, he "misled" Sambhajiraje and ensured there would be more confusion, the BJP leader had alleged.

But, the editorial in Saamana refuted Fadnavis' charge and said, ¿Instead, the BJP tried to corner Sambhaji Chhatrapati. Fadnavis never gave any concrete assurance to Sambhaji Chhatrapati. He only said the party will think about it after consulting seniors." So, Sambhaji Chhatrapati "fell into the trap" of contesting the sixth seat as an independent, the Sena claimed.

"This is an old trick of the BJP," the Shiv Sena further claimed, adding that the BJP also tried to corner MNS chief Raj Thackeray over the issue of use of loudspeakers. The MNS chief was prodded to go to Ayodhya, but then BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh opposed his visit, it said. "Just to defame the Shiv Sena, the BJP gave a bad turn to the episode (involving Sambhaji Chhatrapati)," the party said.

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