Sanjay Raut Commends Priyanka Gandhi as 'Bengal Tigress'; SS-UBT Leader Critiques Congress

Mumbai/New Delhi, Nov 28 (NationPress) Recovering from the significant setback in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections, two principal allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) continued their verbal exchanges against each other and the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

SS-UBT Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday morning praised Congress' newly-elected Wayanad (Lok Sabha) MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, referring to her as a 'bengal tigress' who made her way to Parliament shortly after taking her oath as an MP.

The elegantly dressed Priyanka, at 52, drawing inspiration from her elder brother and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, 54, proudly raised a small red-colored copy of the Constitution during her oath-taking ceremony, marking the beginning of her inaugural term in the lower house of Parliament.

A delighted Raut welcomed her with a post: 'The tigress has arrived in Parliament!'

In attendance to witness this significant moment were her family members, including her children Raihan, 24, and Miraya, 22; her sibling Rahul Gandhi, and their mother, Sonia Gandhi, 77, who is also a Rajya Sabha member.

Meanwhile, back in Mumbai, SS-UBT's Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve took aim at the Congress for the second consecutive day, expressing his frustration over the MVA's defeat in the recent state Legislative Assembly polls.

Focusing on the state Congress leadership, Danve remarked that 'they were overly confident following their victory in the Lok Sabha elections', which contributed to the electoral debacle—indirectly implicating their party ally.

“After winning the LS polls, the Congress seemed to have grown excessively confident… They were on the brink of winning Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, and even Maharashtra… Yet, some of their members were overheard discussing who would assume the position of CM and which portfolios they would occupy. This is the reality,” Danve stated.

While reaffirming that his party would remain allied with the MVA, Danve mentioned that if SS (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray had been the ‘CM face’ in the Assembly elections, “we could have potentially swayed an additional 2-5 percent of the votes in our favor”—hinting that the election results could have been vastly different.

On Wednesday, during one of the 'political autopsy' meetings led by Thackeray, several party leaders hinted at the idea of ‘ekla chalo’ (going solo) for future elections after rebuilding the SS-UBT following the split in June 2022.

Many leaders and members expressed a desire for the party to consider contesting the upcoming local body elections independently, even as SS-UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday urged the new MahaYuti regime to expedite the election process for nearly two dozen civic bodies that have been awaiting elections for over two years.

However, aside from minor conflicts, the MVA allies, including Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar, General Secretary Jitendra Awhad, state President Jayant R. Patil, and leaders from Congress-SS (UBT) have raised concerns about the alleged influence of EVMs in the 'completely unexpected' election results.

Other MVA parties like the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Peasants & Workers Party, and various opposition groups, including Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, and Omprakash B. alias Bachhu Kadu's Prahar Janshakti Party, have vocally opposed the use of EVMs, with many leaders demanding a re-election in the state.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: qnajmi@gmail.com)