BJP’s ‘use and throw’ policy behind major election losses: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai:

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the Kasba Peth assembly constituency in Maharashtra’s Pune city because of its “use and throw” policy.

The ruling BJP on Thursday failed to retain its stronghold Kasba seat as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party’s candidate Hemant Rasane in the bypoll. BJP kept this assembly constituency in its possession for 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP MP from Pune, has represented the seat five times till 2019.

As per the data provided by the Election Commission, Dhangekar got 73,194 votes while Rasane got 62,244 votes.

Speaking to reporters on the election results, Mr. Thackeray said, “I am happy that the candidate of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has won Kasba Peth assembly constituency. This is the result of BJP’s use and throw policy. They worked with us.” behaved like this. Way and now even a family member of late MLA Mukta Tilak was not given a ticket.”

In 2019, Tilak of BJP had won the seat. He died in December 2022 after a battle with cancer, necessitating a by-election in the constituency.

“They included MP Girish Bapat in the campaign even though he was extremely ill. They seek sympathy, but in a very selective way. Voters do not accept such behaviour,” he said.

When asked about Chief Minister Eknath Shinde calling opposition leaders anti-national, he said, “The opposition leaders were invited (to the tea party organized on the eve of the Legislature session on Sunday) by the Chief Minister himself. Would have participated in the Tea Party, would he still have called them traitors?”

On Sunday, on the eve of the budget session of the state assembly, the opposition boycotted the traditional tea party organized by Chief Minister Shinde. Later, referring to the opposition boycott, Mr Shinde said it saved him from having tea with “anti-nationals”.

He had said that it was good that the opposition members did not attend the tea party as some of them have links with terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.