Amid the tussle between parties over local body elections in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde acknowledged a strain with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis even as both leaders emphasised that the polls should remain focused on local issues and party workers.
Shinde admitted to a recent exchange of allegations with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis but said that local body elections should remain focused on grassroots issues and the work of party workers. Speaking to the reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Eknath Shinde said, "Yes, it's true that I made allegations against the CM, and he also made allegations against me. But you need to understand that these elections are local elections, which are fought on very local issues and are fought by the local party workers. Big political issues do not need to be brought up in these local body elections. But party workers like to see their senior leadership come and join them in these election campaigns."
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the local body elections are driven by party workers, stressing that he has avoided making comments against opponents or allies and has focused only on campaigning for his party's candidates.
"These are local body elections in which workers of our party contest these elections and we try to reach to all parts of the state where the elections are being held to campaign and support our workers during our elections. The same workers do very hard work in our campaigning, so it's our responsibility also to come and campaign for them in their elections and it is done by everyone," Fadnavis told reporters.
"These were the elections where I had not made any comment on. Even my opponents. Let alone the issue of commenting on our allies. Today is the last day of the campaign for the elections, but I have not made any comments against anyone. I only campaign in support of candidates of our party," he said. -- PTI