Sena (UBT) says Congress should take Chanda onus

Nagpur: Under fire for aiding archrival BJP to win the Chandrapur mayor's poll, a cornered Sena-UBT on Friday pushed the narrative that it was Congress' internal feud which is to be blamed for the fiasco. UBT spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said party chief Uddhav Thackeray had no role in the decision and put the onus on the local Chandrapur Sena-UBT unit. BJP, the second-largest party in Chandrapur civic polls, managed to win the mayor's poll mainly due to support from UBT's six corporators. This led to ally Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Sandeep Deshpande alleging that each UBT corporator was clandestinely paid Rs 1 crore for their vote."Did they come and count the money," asked Raut while fielding a query from reporters, "Did BJP hand over the money and give them 20% commission to distribute cash? I can guarantee you that Uddhav ji had no role to play in Chandrapur. If local leaders took a call and kept the party brass in the dark, then our party chief will definitely take a stand. No one in the party supports this decision, and no one will support these developments. What happened there was done by the people of Chandrapur," said Raut.
Corporators from Chandrapur are expected to reach Matoshree in a day or two. "Wait and watch, we will take action," said Raut, before pointing out that the "main problem" started with its state-level ally, Congress. "I am repeatedly saying that because of internal discord in Cong, certain developments happened suddenly. I am speaking only about Chandrapur, not about Maharashtra. The dispute within the Chandrapur unit of Congress went up to Delhi. It could not be resolved there. The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress leadership could not hammer out a solution. Instead of blaming us, Congress should first accept responsibility. The dispute was within their party, and responsibility must be accepted by them," said Raut.As UBT top leadership shows signs of backing out, BJP which won the mayor's post with just one vote on Tuesday, may soon find itself out in the cold. And it's not just UBT which BJP needs to watch out for, the saffron party has to deal with rivalries within. While one faction owes allegiance to Ballarpur MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar, the other group is aligned to Chandrapur MLA Kishore Jorgewar. On Thursday, Jorgewar camp's corporators stayed away from the event celebrating the mayor's first day in office, which was an open sign of revolt.From here on, BJP can either survive on outside support and keep looking over its shoulders or Congress factions headed by MLA Vijay Wadettiwar and Lok Sabha MP Pratibha Dhanorkar can join hands to take control of the civic body with support from UBT. Either way, Mungantiwar's short-lived political renaissance will take a hit, while rival Jorgewar will gain by merely sitting on the sidelines.BOX / QUOTE BLURB:"I have not received any official summons from the party but have seen statements by our party leadership, questioning the local level alliance. We will leave for Mumbai to meet party bosses after Mahashivratri. Also, independent candidate Prashant Danao, who was elected as deputy mayor, has formally joined UBT thus raising our strength to seven."Sandeep Girhe | President, Shiv Sena UBT (Chandrapur)"MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande is a good friend of mine but such allegations often surface when a party loses power, hence should not be taken seriously. Now the mayor's post will rotate after 15 months, so does that mean BJP corporators will be bribed? That is not possible. Allegations of cash-for-votes are false and politically motivated."Sudhir Mungantiwar | BJP MLA, Ballarpur