A Maha puzzle: Fadnavis not clear on who stands where, calls polls 'strange'!

NT Correspondent

Mumbai

The Maharashtra assembly polls scheduled for November 20 are "ajab" (strange) and clarity on which group is supporting whom will be clear after results are declared on November 23, Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday. Interacting with a select group of reporters here, he said the Mahayuti, comprising Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and BJP, has an edge over the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). "These elections are strange (ajab). We will get to know who is with whom only after the results. There are internal contradictions within the Mahayuti as well," Fadnavis said.

A similar situation is being faced by the MVA also, he asserted. The November 20 assembly polls are a battle of ideas, that of progress and development of the Mahayuti and MVA's policy of creating roadblocks, Fadnavis said. He also said the 'batenge toh katenge' (disunity will lead to destruction) slogan was a counter to the MVA alliance's politics of appeasement. The slogan 'batenge toh katenge', frequently used by Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on the campaign trail for the November 20 Maharashtra polls, has united the opposition in its condemnation, which claims it has communal overtones, while even some ruling alliance leaders have frowned on it.