Mumbai : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that as the Lok Sabha elections are going on in the country now, there is a fear in the minds of the common people about EVMs. "People want change in the country, but no matter how many buttons are pressed, the votes will go to Kamal (Lotus)", he said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
Criticising the BJP on EVMs, Raut said that there is opposition to EVM machines from all over the world and similar objections are also being expressed strongly in India as well. Therefore, we had requested the Election Commission not to hold elections with EVMs, said Sanjay Raut. But if the election is not held on EVMs, the BJP is afraid that it will suffer, so it conducts elections on EVMs only, he said. This time, Sanjay Raut challenged BJP to show courage to hold elections without EVMs.
On the alliance, Sanjay Raut said they were still in discussions with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. The position of all the leaders of Mahavikas Aghadi is to save the constitution of the country and to save democracy, he said. "Prakash Ambedkar should come with us, the discussion has not stopped. We had proposed 5 seats to Vanchit, but as it was not acceptable to him, he has announced to contest on his own. They have announced some candidates but we are still in discussions. And we all want the underprivileged to come to the forefront of Mahavikas Aghadi", he said.
When asked about Nashik MP Hemant Godse likely to join Sena, Sanjay Raut asserted that there is no question of taking back those who are traitors because they have betrayed Shiv Sena once. Shiv Sena's doors will be closed to such traitors, he said and added that if such traitors come back to Shiv Sena after betraying the party, it will be an insult to the loyal, self-respecting and honest Shiv Sainiks.
Raut said that resentment is growing in the Shinde group, and there will be many revolts. He said that the Shinde group is currently enslaved and they have to live at the mercy of the BJP. When asked about BJP leader Unmesh Patil likely to join Shiv Sena (UBT), Raut said that Unmesh Patil has contacted their party. "And all I can say is that they are going to visit us. Sanjay Raut said that nothing can be said about whether he will join the party or not," he said.
The Sena leader criticised PM Modi, saying that he is just an acting Prime Minister but he is traveling across the country to campaign for the elections and has no time to pay attention to the fact that China has invaded Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. Raut urged PM Modi to go to Manipur, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh to see how people are suffernig there.
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