Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 19 : Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday alleged that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has confined its winning candidates in a Mumbai hotel like prisoners, questioning what Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP are afraid of.
The remarks of the Sena UBT MP follow his earlier claims, in which he said that several new faces among the corporators are vouching for a non-BJP leader.
"Narendra Modi wants the BJP's Mayor, but he did not explain how. The BJP does not have a complete mandate. Shinde Sena's winning candidates are being kept in the Taj Lands End Hotel, almost like prisoners. The hotel has turned into a jail. Despite having the Centre's government and a strong CM, Devendra Fadnavis, in Maharashtra, these corporators remain locked up. Why are they so afraid?" Raut questioned.
As hotel politics make a comeback in Mumbai amid a speculated tussle for the BMC mayoral post, Shiv Sena (UBT) has accused Eknath Shinde of turning the hotel into a "jail".
However, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde on Sunday met the party's newly elected corporators at a hotel in Mumbai and said the BMC mayor will be from the Mahayuti.
The opposition in Maharashtra trained guns on Shinde after the BJP emerged as the largest party in the BMC.
While the Shiv Sena (UBT), contesting in alliance with the MNS, won 65 seats, having a larger mandate than the Shinde faction, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said the people of Mumbai have "shown him the mirror" and that the verdict made it clear which faction represents the "real Shiv Sena".