Shiv Sena to contest 50 seats in Bihar assembly polls

Amidst the recent controversy over the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, Shiv Sena has decided to independently contest 50 seats in the Bihar assembly elections. Shiv Sena Member of the Parliament (MP) and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s close confidant Anil Desai told the Free Press Journal, “The party will go solo and field candidates in around 50 seats for the Bihar assembly elections on the Hindutva plank. A team of party leaders and workers from Maharashtra along with local party members will carry out the poll campaign. A team of party leaders will visit Patna next week.”

Desai said the party will not rake up Sushant Singh Rajput death case during the poll campaigning, but will give a befitting reply if it will be taken up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United). “It is now clear that BJP and JD (U) in the run up to the Bihar assembly elections raised the issue by defaming Maharashtra and the state police. Bihar’s former director general Gupteshar Pandey, who has now joined JD (U), attacked the Mumbai Police. They also attacked Shiv Sena and its party leaders in addition to their jibes against the state government. The party will retort if they take up the SSR death case and fire salvo against Shiv Sena,” he noted.

Desai said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) panel has cleared that SSR died because of hanging and it was not a murder. He said the party had contested almost 50 seats in the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar alone. “Although the party did not win a single seat, it came third in at least seven seats while was in fourth or fifth position in 30 to 35 seats. Shiv Sena had got about 2 lakh votes. The party is hopeful to improve its performance in the ensuing elections,” he viewed.