Be ready to face questions over 2014 poll promises: Shiv Sena to BJP

MUMBAI: After a brief lull post announcement of its alliance with the BJP, the Shiv Sena is back on old line to target its ally on the issues over which the party had been criticizing the government for past four and half years.

An editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday said that the BJP should now be prepared to face questions from people over its 2014 poll promises of peace in the Kashmir Valley and construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. While, on Monday the editorial had targeted the BJP for exploiting the courage and bravery of armed forces for electoral gains.

FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

“History says people cannot be fooled for long. Even people have questions, the answers to which they seek through ballot boxes,” the Saamana editorial said on Tuesday while referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’. “On May 23, people’s “mann ki baat” will be out,” the editorial said.

Apart from old issues of Kashmir and Temple, which have remained unresolved, people also have doubts over the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in polls, the editorial said and asked, “Why the insistence over EVMs when all other countries have stopped using them due to their faulty nature and the fact that these machines could be controlled with money power?”

The editorial also referred to the power of black money put to use in the elections and also took a dig at inaugurations, announcements and giving green signal to development projects. The editorial also referred to Modi’s pet idea of simultaneous elections while urging voters to execute their right wisely.

While referring to the election commissions’ gag on using the pictures of armed forces or action during campaign, the editorial has said that it is unfortunate that the commission had to say this.