MUMBAI: The slugfest between the BJP and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena intensified ahead of the local body elections in Maharashtra, with allegations of large-scale cash distribution surfacing in the high-stakes Malvan–Kankavali contest involving the Rane family.
Shiv Sena MLA Nilesh Rane, son of former Union minister Narayan Rane, alleged that the BJP was distributing Rs 25,000 per vote.
He claimed that several bags filled with cash were found at the residence of local BJP leader Vijay Kenavadekar. Nilesh Rane shared a video showing him and a local journalist entering the house and seizing the bags, alleging that Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan had supplied the money to buy votes. “We hope the election commission files an FIR in this case and takes action,” he said.
The BJP denied the allegations, with Chavan dismissing them as wild claims made by the Shiv Sena because it was losing ground.
Senior BJP leader and revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said it is not right to enter someone's bedroom and call it a sting operation. He said the money found at the BJP leader's house was kept for his own business purposes.
Meanwhile, countering his brother's charge, Nitesh Rane, Narayan Rane’s younger son and a BJP minister, claimed that all political parties engage in such practices. “Hamam mein sab nange,” he said.
In the Kankavali–Malvan Municipal Council elections, the Eknath Shinde–led Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP) have joined hands under the Shahar Vikas Aghadi banner to take on the BJP.