In a major embarrassment for BJP hours before crucial Maharashtra polls, a ruckus ensued at a hotel in Virar near Mumbai on Tuesday after its national General Secretary Vinod Tawde was gheraoed by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) workers who alleged that he had come to distribute cash among voters ahead of Wednesday’s polling in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
“Rs 9.93 lakh have been recovered from the hotel rooms (of Tawde),” an Election Commission (EC) official said. The police have registered an FIR in the matter. The BJP, however, claimed that the FIR was not related to cash-for-vote charge but was registered for MCC violations.
The incident has sparked off a political storm with the opposition demanding a comprehensive investigation by the Election Commission. After the row, which went on for over three hours, it was decided that a joint press conference of Hitendra Thakur, his son Kshitij, Tawde, and BJP’s candidate Rajan Naik would be held at the hotel.
However, EC officials stopped the press conference just as it started, saying it was illegal to hold it a day before voting. Hitendra Thakur accused Tawde of distributing Rs 5 crore at a hotel in Virar, 60 km from Mumbai, to woo voters, a claim the BJP leader denied, saying he was only providing guidance to party workers on poll procedures.
“I was informed by a BJP leader that he (Tawde) has come to distribute this huge cash. I could not believe that such a key national functionary of that party will do so, but sadly it turned out to be true,” Thakur told a Marathi news channel.
“In the hotel today, cash, diaries and laptops (related to the alleged cash distribution) were recovered. The diaries mentioned names and the amount given to them,” Thakur said. A viral video showed BVA party supporters barging into the Virar hotel room and flinging bundles of cash at Tawde’s face before police escorted him out.
