Thane UBT accuses Mahayuti of foul play

THANE: The Thane UBT faction, Wednesday, claimed the BJP and Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde paid the price for allegedly playing foul in the state during the Lok Sabha elections as they had to settle for fewer seats as compared to their desired target of winning 45 constituencies here.
UBT Thane chief Kedar Dighe, Wednesday, lashed out at the Mahayuti blaming them for failing to concentrate on their own victory and failing to ensure a level playing field in the elections.
Dighe, in a statement, said the BJP was focused only on decimating the political presence of Uddhav Thackeray and his party boomeranged on its own performance as the BJP had to settle at just nine seats compared to 23 in the previous term. He alleged Shinde to have used muscle and money power for routing the MVA candidates in the state including UBT’s Rajan Vichare in Thane who single-handed managed to garner over five lakh votes in the absence of a single elected representative in the constituency.
Meanwhile, industries minister and Shiv Sena’s Uday Samant during an independent interaction with the media in Thane dismissed allegations of the UBT faction including that related to the Mumbai North West seat.
“They (MVA and UBT) have the habit of blaming us for their defeat... Earlier they blamed the EVM and now are accusing the administration where their candidate won. So why are they silent in the seats where their candidates won? Are they asking for repoll there? They need to introspect on their defeat,” he said.