People favoured MVA govt in Maha Gram Panchayat polls: Sena

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said thepeople of Maharashtra had favoured the Uddhav Thackeray-ledMaha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the recently-held GramPanchayat elections in the state, results of which weredeclared on Monday.

Taking a dig at the BJP in the party's mouthpiece'Saamana', the Sena said a ''political revolution'' cannot bestaged in the state using the central probe agencies.

The BJP should accept the public mandate favouring theMVA, or else, people of the state will further rout thatparty, the Sena said.

About 1.25 lakh candidates emerged victorious in thepolls held for 12,711 Gram Panchayats on January 15.

These polls are not fought on party symbols, butpanels are fielded by political parties or local leaders.

The ruling MVA -- comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP andCongress -- on Monday claimed a ''huge win'' in the GramPanchayat elections, while the opposition BJP said it had comeout stronger in the elections.

The Sena claimed the Thackeray government wasaddressing people's problems and the state's development hasgained momentum on its watch.

''All the MVA constituents have put up an emphatic showin the Gram Panchayat polls. What else is this if not amandate favouring the Thackeray government in the state?'' theSena asked.

''The Gram Panchayat polls have conveyed the people'smandate. Accept that or the people of Maharashtra won't keepquiet till they further rout (you),'' it said.

''A political revolution cannot be staged inMaharashtra with the help of 'workers' in the EnforcementDirectorate, CBI and Income Tax. Maharashtra's soil isdifferent,'' the party said.

The Sena claimed that the BJP had lost the GramPanchayat polls in home turfs of its key state leaders such asRadhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Raosaheb Danve, Chandrakant Patil,Ram Shinde and Nitesh Rane.

It further stated that the Congress and NCP took a''big leap'' in the polls in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

''The Shiv Sena has prevailed in Konkan, but there wasa setback at some places. It will be reviewed later. But theoverall results from the entire state show that people haverejected the BJP. This can also mean that people have acceptedthe Thackeray government,'' the editorial said.

The Sena went on to say that while Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is the most popular leader in the country, inMaharashtra, it is Uddhav Thackeray.