Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: 'Vote jihad' should be countered by dharma-yuddha', says Fadnavis

Deputy Chief Minister CM Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday asserted that vote jihad in the state must be countered with a dharmayuddha religious war of votes as he campaigned for the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024According to news agency PTI Fadnavis while addressing a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in support of Mahayuti coalition candidates Atul Save Aurangabad East Sanjay Shirsat Aurangabad West and Pradip Jaiswal Aurangabad Central spoke strongly about the political landscape in the stateldquoNo one can change the name of this city now At an AIMIM All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen rally here someone asked who was Sambhaji Maharaj Sambhaji Maharaj remained undefeated for nine years So we have given his name to the cityrdquo Fadnavis said referring to the recent renaming of Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar in honour of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj the second ruler of the Maratha Empire after his father Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajAccording to PTI the BJP leader then pointed to the issue of vote jihad that he claimed had affected previous elections ldquoA vote jihad has begun in the state now We saw that in the Lok Sabha elections In Dhule we were ahead by 190 lakh votes but the Malegaon assembly segment had 194 lakh votes and we were defeated by only 4000 votes This Vote Jihad was the reason for our defeat there because we were not unitedrdquo he allegedFadnavis also cited the words of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath who had said Batenge to katenge divided we perish and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had said Ek rahenge to safe rahenge united we remain safe ldquoThis election is an opportunity to show that Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar was a saffron fortressrdquo he addedWithout naming Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray Fadnavis remarked ldquoLate Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray gave the name Sambhajinagar to this city and now some people are ashamed to call Bal Thackeray Hinduhriday Samrat ruler of Hindu hearts They even call him Janab Bal ThackerayrdquoRs 1600crore water pipeline scheme sanctioned in just eight days Devendra FadnavisPTI reported that continuing his criticism Fadnavis attacked the AIMIM and its supporters ldquoThis is an election for crushing the dreams of those who are trying to bring the rule of Razakars to the cityrdquo he said referring to the infamous militia of the Nizam of Hyderabad who were associated with Aurangabad before it became part of MaharashtraldquoIf they are doing vote jihad Sambhajinagar should be ready to do dharmayuddha of votesrdquo Fadnavis who also holds the home portfolio saidSpeaking on issues related to development Fadnavis elaborated the Mahayuti governmentrsquos accomplishments He mentioned the sanctioning of a Rs 1600crore water pipeline scheme in just eight days and said that although the local administration lacked the funds to contribute Rs 600 crore to the project the Maharashtra Government had covered the cost ldquoThe Maha Vikas Aghadi government stopped it but the Mahayuti resumed it and the city will have enough water in every home within the next three monthsrdquo he saidFadnavis also highlighted other infrastructure projects including the resolution of issues related to garbage sewer lines and roads ldquoWe also built the NagpurMumbai Samruddhi highway which helped bring Rs 73000crore worth of investments to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagarrdquo he said adding that the state had also sanctioned Rs 740 crore for expanding the local airport Fadnavis also promised the development of a sports university and a cricket stadium in the city if the Mahayuti wins the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024With PTI inputs