The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday slammed Maharashtra unit head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for threatening voters of Kolhapur over raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) based on their PayTM transactions.
“Patil is only proving the misuse of the ED by the BJP. Now they dare to threaten voters claiming they are receiving money via PayTM. This is nothing but the frustration of the party as it is losing its base and this byelection,” said State Congress president Nana Patole.
During the campaign for the Kolhapur north Assembly constituency byelection, Mr. Patil told reporters some people are transferring money via PayTM and whoever accepts it will be probed by the ED.
Mr. Patole slammed the BJP saying its State leaders have lost mental balance and are busy threatening common citizens. “The self–respecting citizens of Kolhapur will teach the BJP a befitting lesson,” he said.
The NCP too questioned the BJP on threatening voters. “This is nothing but realisation that the BJP is losing this byelection. If he has evidence of voters being given money, then Patil should make a complaint to the Election Commission instead of giving empty threats,” said NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.
The Kolhapur byelection is necessitated after the demise of Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav. The party has given ticket to his wife while the BJP has given ticket to former Congress leader Satyajit Kadam.
