After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Maharashtra unit president Chandrakant Patil accused the Congress of bribing voters ahead of the Kolhapur North Assembly by-poll and warned that he would urge the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut lambasted Mr. Patil and dared him to first ask the ED to probe how the BJP won crucial seats in neighbouring Goa as well as in Assembly elections in other States like Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Raut, the Sena’s chief spokesperson, said Mr. Patil ought to first urge the ED to inquire how the BJP won the seats of Panaji and Sanquelim in the recently concluded Goa Assembly election.
Rebel candidate Utpal Parrikar -son of late BJP stalwart Manohar Parrikar - had lost narrowly in Panaji to the BJP’s Atanasio Monserrate (by a little over 700 votes) while Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant just scraped through the Sanquelim contest (his victory margin being a mere 666 votes) with the Congress’ Dharmesh Saglani giving Mr. Sawant a run for his money.
