Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (File)Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, Shiv Sena chief and CM Uddhav Thackeray told the Shiv Sena legislators to “not fear about anything” and vote to ensure victory to two of the party’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Thackeray held a meeting with party legislators at his official residence Varsha in Malabar Hill on Monday evening which saw all legislators of the party except those from Aurangabad along with a few independent legislators in attendance.
Aurangabad representatives are busy in preparing for the party’s rally scheduled for Wednesday.
“CM told us that don’t fear about anything during these Rajya Sabha elections. He further said the party has given candidature to an ordinary Shiv Sainik (Sanjay Pawar) for the Rajya Sabha election. He has asked us to ensure his victory to send out a message to the people in general that an ordinary person also gets a post in politics,” a Sena legislator told The Indian Express. Soon after the meeting, all the Sena legislators were taken in two buses to a resort in Malad, where the MLAs were kept during the formation of the state’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in 2019. The legislators are likely to stay there till June 9. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha election to be held on June 10.
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This is the first time in two decades that Rajya Sabha elections are being contested in Maharashtra. Prior to this, the elections to the Upper House were always held unopposed in the state. The Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs, the Congress 44 and the NCP 53 out of which two MLAs, Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, are in jail.
Sena leaders said that Thackeray will hold a meeting with all MVA legislators on Tuesday at a south Mumbai hotel. “ CM has told us that we will have to win the sixth seat (Sena’s Sanjay Pawar). This will be a one-sided election for us and there is no fight. Apart from Congress and NCP, Samajwadi Party, Prahar Janshakti Party and others are with us,” said an MLA.
Bhaskar Jadhav, Shiv Sena legislator from Konkan, said, “By fielding a candidate in the Rajya Sabha election, the BJP wants to show that they would do horse trading through the ED, CBI or IT department. But we have the required numbers to win the sixth seat and we don’t need to make shallow statements.”
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