Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray voiced his anger on Monday after Election Commission of India (ECI) officials checked his bags upon his helicopter landing in Wani, Yavatmal district.
Thackeray, who visited Yavatmal to campaign for his party’s Wani assembly candidate, Sanjay Derkar, questioned whether the ECI also inspects the bags of ruling party leaders.
“I want to ask if they inspect the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar,” Thackeray said.
The former chief minister arrived in Wani by helicopter on Monday afternoon. As soon as he and his personal assistant, MLC Milind Narvekar, stepped off, election officials approached, requesting to inspect their luggage. Thackeray permitted the bag check but recorded the process on video, later sharing it on social media.
In the video, which was shot by Thackeray, he is heard asking ECI officials if they had inspected the bags of Shinde, Fadnavis, Pawar, Modi and Shah. When one of the officials responds saying these leaders are yet to visit the region, Thackeray tells him to inspect their bags when they do visit and send him videos as proof.
Later, at the Shiv Sena (UBT) rally in Wani, Thackeray publicly expressed his anger over the incident. “I am not angry with [the ECI officials] as they were doing their duty. But at the same time, I have a question: do they check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, that bearded person (referring to Eknath Shinde), the man with the pink jacket (referring to Ajit Pawar) and that deputy CM Fadnavis?” he said.
Thackeray added that if election authorities do not inspect the bags of ruling party leaders, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maha Vikas Aghadi workers would take it upon themselves to do so. He also advised his party workers and voters to check the identity cards and pockets of any election officials who approached them.
Later in the day, Amol Kolhe, an MP from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a Shiv Sena (UBT) ally, also reported that ECI officials had checked his luggage. “When I arrived in Sangli for a rally in Vita, election officials inspected my bags,” he said.
