Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday taunted its ally in the State and Central governments, and said voters have rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and appreciated the courage of the electorate in showing the way forward.
The Opposition Congress said the days of the BJP are over and the former is set to make a comeback in Maharashtra as well.
‘No time wasted’
Mr. Thackeray’s statement, issued late on Tuesday evening, as election results became clear, said, “I congratulate the courage of the voters who did not waste time over the useless question of who could be the alternative.”
“They did not think about EVMs, distribution of money, hooliganism, but rejected those they did not want. True courage is not worrying about future,” he said.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said the election results in the five states was a tight slap on the face of the BJP, by the voters. “Opponents of Rahul Gandhi termed him pappu, but now he has become parampujya (most revered). The people of this country need Ram-rajya and not Ram temple,” he said, alleging that the issue was brought up to hide the failures of the BJP in the last four years.
‘People’s power’
Congress was jubiliant over the party’s performance and said that “money power” of the BJP stood defeated by the “people’s power”.
“I congratulate party president Rahul Gandhi on behalf of the Maharashtra Congress. Because of his leadership, we have defeated the BJP in three States. This is a victory of jan shakti (people’s power) over dhan shakti (money power). In the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, BJP’s gharwapsi (defeat) is certain,” said State Congress president Ashok Chavan.
“The Congress will return to power in 2019. ‘Modji jaanewale hai, Rahulji anewale hai’(Modi’s era is over. New era belongs to Rahul Gandhi)”, Mr. Chavan said.
He said that the winning momentum will be continued in Maharashtra as well. “This trend will continue. The Devendra Fadnavis government will fall,” he said.
“Modi, Machine and Money have not worked in the elections. The impact of Modi’s charisma was not seen anywhere in the polls,” Mr. Chavan said.