Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday claimed his bag was inspected by election authorities when he arrived in Maharashtra's Yavatmal to campaign for the November 20 assembly elections.
The former chief minister asked if the election authorities would also inspect the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders.
Thackeray shared this experience while addressing a public meeting at Wani in Yavatmal for Shiv Sena-UBT candidate Sanjay Derkar.
The Sena-UBT chief said when he arrived in Wani by helicopter, several election officials inspected his bag.
He asked his party workers and voters to also check the pockets and identity cards of the officials who check them.
Thackeray said he was not miffed with the election authorities but added, "You are following your responsibility, and I will perform my responsibility."
"The way you inspected my bag, did you inspect the bags of Modi and Shah?" he asked.
Shouldn't the bags of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis be checked? he sought to know.
"All these useless things are going on. I don't consider it democratic. This can't be a democracy. In a democracy, no one is big or small," Thackeray said.
He said if the election authorities do not inspect their bags (of senior leaders of the ruling alliance), then workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the opposition MVA will check them.
The police and the Election Commission should not intervene as voters also have the right to check their bags (senior leaders of the ruling parties) when they come for campaigning, he added.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena-UBT posted a video of Thackeray's bag being inspected on its X handle.
In the video, Thackeray can be seen asking officials if they had inspected any other political leader's bag.
He goes on to ask them if they checked the bags of CM Shinde, Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, PM Modi and Shah.
When one of the officials tells the Sena (UBT) chief that these leaders are yet to visit the region, he tells them to inspect PM Modi and Shah's bag and send him a video recording.
