Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi on Tuesday attacked BJP over the controversy around Vinod Tawde allegedly distributing money to voters. Congress’s Rahul Gandhi said on X, “Modiji, this Rs 5 crore has come from whose safe? Who looted the public’s money and sent you in the tempo?” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the alleged cash for votes case was BJP’s ‘note jihad, and Supriya Sule of NCP (SP) wondered where so much cash had come from post-demonetization.
The Congress accused BJP of “use of money power” to influence the state polls. AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala asked DGP Sanjay Verma and chief electoral officer Choklingam to arrest the BJP general secretary for his role in the episode and demanded a criminal case be registered against BJP.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X, “PM Modi wants to make Maharashtra ‘safe’ with ‘money power’ and ‘muscle power.’ On one hand, there is a deadly attack on the former home minister (Anil Deshmukh) of the state, on the other hand, a senior BJP leader is caught red-handed with Rs 5 crore in cash. The public will answer this by voting tomorrow.”
In a spin on the BJP slogan ‘batenge toh katenge’, Uddhav said, “We need to ask if their new slogan is ‘baatenge to jeetenge’ (If we distribute, we will win). Paisa baatenge aur election jeetenge.”
He said the tip-off might have come from an internal war within BJP. “This could be an internal gang war. This could be within BJP or between BJP and CM Eknath Shinde’s party,” Thackeray said.
“Vinod Tawde should get a PhD. He is praised for toppling and forming govts. Now we know the secret of how he does it,” he said. “Maharashtra must see their schemes are bogus. Rs 1500 for women and bundles of cash for themselves.”
He said EC needs to take strong action. “My bags were checked even when I went to the Tulja Bhavani temple but who will check their (BJP netas’) bags? I think EC must take strict action or we will have to take action against EC,” Thackeray said.
Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said the home department had kept Tawde under surveillance and a BJP leader in Maharashtra gave the tip-off to Hitendra Thakur. “The Maharashtra home department kept Vinod Tawde under surveillance and arrangements were made to catch Tawde,” Raut claimed.
“Vinod Tawde will be a problem for them in the future. Because he is the face of Bahujan Samaj. A man from Maharashtra is the national general secretary. He has some secrets in his head. Therefore, a conspiracy was hatched within BJP to catch him this way,” Raut claimed.
Supriya Sule asked how a sum of Rs 5 crore was available in cash and could be taken to Virar without interception. “The Prime Minister implemented demonetisation to curb black money. How did a sum of Rs 5 crore in cash reach BJP? And how were they able to take it to Virar in a car without being intercepted,” she asked. “BJP must be in a panic that their govt will not return. I am shocked Vinod Tawde, who has been state education minister, should be accused of doing this,” she said.