Attributing Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis’ triumph in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha election to political ‘horse-trading’ and ‘interference by Central agencies’, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that if the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had control of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for just two days, then even Mr. Fadnavis and the BJP would have voted for the Sena.
The BJP led by Mr. Fadnavis had rattled the tripartite MVA (of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress) by achieving a surprise victory on the hotly-contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State, which saw the BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik narrowly beating the Sena’s (MVA’s) candidate Sanjay Pawar by 41 votes to 39. With a number of independent MLAs, who were expected to side with the MVA ultimately voting for the BJP, bitter recriminations ensued after the results on June 11 which were finally declared after a high-voltage, all-night drama.
Mr. Raut ‘named’ no less than six independent MLAs as being responsible for the defeat of the Sena’s candidate, while accusing the BJP at the Centre and the State of ‘misusing Central agencies’ to change the outcome of the results.
