'Pappu politics' intensified in Maharashtra as BJP, Uddhav Sena attack each other

Mumbai: Amid the ongoing high-voltage election campaign in Bihar, the political atmosphere is getting charged up in Maharashtra which is headed for local bodies polls in the next couple of months.

Even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi against the BJP and Election Commission intensified, what came to the fore is the use of the word Pappu.

Last week, in the presence of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya made a presentation of problems in the voters’ list in his home seat of Worli.

However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis immediately compared him with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and likened Aaditya to call Maharashtra’s Pappu.

“I know Aaditya...however, I didn't expect him to do Pappugiri… His presentation (on vote chori) was a replica of what (Congress MP) Rahul Gandhi had done earlier. He (Aaditya) shouldn't try to become Maharashtra's Pappu. All that the Opposition is doing is cover firing…khoda pahad, aur chuha bhi nahi nikla….Aaditya is conducting in a similar fashion as Rahul Gandhi does.”

In his presentation, Aaditya said: "The total number of voters in Worli increased from 2,52,970 in May 2024 (during Lok Sabha elections) to 2,63,352 in October 2024 (in Vidhan Sabha polls). Nearly 16,000 voters were added in the span of four months. During the same period, nearly 5,000 voters were deleted. But when we conducted a detailed analysis of the entire list, we found over 19,000 anomalies.”

On Monday, BJP leader and Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar said that double entries of voters from Muslim community had benefited the Opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Shelar presented examples of the repeated voters in 31 Assembly segments and alleged that Opposition candidates had won in Lok Sabha polls because of the minority and Muslim voters.

However, now it was the turn of Uddhav to return the fire, who took swipes at Fadnavis and Shelar in one go.

“Shelar had shown courage by unknowingly calling Fadnavis Maharashtra’s Pappu for not acknowledging irregularities in the voters' list,” said Uddhav.

"If the BJP is demanding cleansing of electoral rolls, they should have come with us (Opposition parties) to the Chief Electoral Officer and State Election Commissioner with their demands,” Uddhav, a former Maharashtra Chief Minister said.

"We haven't asked for voter rolls correction based on religion. We will move the court asking for correcting the voters list. If Shelar agrees there are problems in the list, the BJP should also be a party to the case," he said.

The development comes a couple of days after the opposition parties morcha in Mumbai in which Uddhav’s cousin and MNS President Raj Thackeray joined.

Shelar had alleged earlier in the day that Uddhav and Raj were engaging in appeasement politics and sowing the seeds of Hindu-Muslim division.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said that what Shelar said is exactly what the MVA and other opposition parties are highlighting. "We are on the same page...Shelar did have guts to say this though he tried to give a communal colour," he said, taking a swipe at the BJP minister.