The party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, in an editorial said that some MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) switched loyalties owing to pressure from Central agencies. At least 18 MLAs and four Members of Parliament (MP) were “honeytrapped”, the editorial claimed
The MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray collapsed in 2022. File pic
Hidden cameras and a Pegasus-like surveillance system were used to honeytrap Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) legislators and parliamentarians, leading to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in 2022, the Shiv Sena (UBT) claimed on Tuesday.
The party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, in an editorial said that some Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the undivided Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) switched loyalties owing to pressure from Central agencies. At least 18 MLAs and four Members of Parliament (MP) were “honeytrapped”, prompting them to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to save their image.
The editorial further pointed out that Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar had alleged that MPs and MLAs were blackmailed and as a former leader of the opposition, his remarks must be taken seriously.
"Hidden cameras and a Pegasus-like system from Israel were used (for surveillance) to its fullest extent. It is now clear that the MVA government collapsed due to this [honey] trapping,” the editorial said.
Pegasus is a spyware developed by Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group.
The BJP had a system to honeytrap, and even police personnel had conducted surveillance on the opposition, the Saamana editorial claimed, further alleging that when a pen drive containing evidence of honeytrapping –involving Shiv Sena MPs and MLAs – was handed over to Eknath Shinde in 2022, they set out on their journey to Surat, Guwahati and then to Goa. This is all like a suspense thriller, the editorial said.
The Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) was alluding to the split engineered by Shinde in the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022.
The editorial mentioned that Shinde initially lacked the numerical strength and had the backing of only nine or 10 MLAs during the rebellion. However, the people from the Home department and the then leader of the opposition in the assembly, Devendra Fadnavis, blackmailed MPs and MLAs.
The editorial stated that Shiv Sena ministers Sanjay Shirsat, Yogesh Kadam and Dada Bhuse, and their NCP colleague Manik Kokate should be sacked from the state cabinet.
Some ministers were honeytrapped, and they will also have to go, the editorial stated, adding that the conduct of some ministers indicates that a cabinet reshuffle is on the cards in Maharashtra.
(With PTI inputs)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
