Mumbai: Mounting pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has claimed that the Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora, had telephoned Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to persuade him to join hands with the BJP.
"It is shocking that a person who is CEC of India calls up the chief of a political party to join hands with the BJP. It is dangerous for a democracy," NCP state president Jayant Patil said.
This claim by the NCP, which is in constant touch, has thrown a bombshell in political circle. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday had alleged that the BJP was playing dirty politics and behaving even worse than the goons.
He, too, had threatened to reveal this at an appropriate time. Patil's allegations can be linked to Raut's comment. All attempts to contact Raut proved futile. Anil Desai, another leader and member of Parliament from Shiv Sena, too, refused comments.
Snooping forces Ambedkar to contest
NCP made another allegation to corner the BJP. "The snooping by the Centre of a key leader in Maharashtra forced him to contest the election on its own.
He was pressured not to align with us," Patil said. He did not mention the leader's name. When asked whether it was Prakash Ambedkar, he replied in affirmation. Ambedkar was unavailable for his reaction.
