15 November,2024 01:49 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ajit Pawar. File Pic
As the 'Batenge toh Katenge' slogan has taken centre stage in the Maharashtra elections 2024, Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said that he does not endorse the slogan and backed PM Modi's 'Ek hai toh Safe hai" slogan.
The slogan has been widely condemned by the opposition leaders, claiming communal overtones in it.
"I have expressed my disagreement on this (Batenge toh Katenge) in a public rally and media interviews. Some BJP leaders have also expressed the same. 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' means together with all, development for all...Now, 'Ek hain toh safe hain...I see it from this angle," Ajit Pawar said in an interview with ANI.
Expressing his displeasure with the slogan he said, "We immediately said that this is not Uttar Pradesh, it must be going on in the North, not in our Maharashtra."
Earlier, in an interview with ANI, BJP leader Fadnavis, who is in alliance with Ajit Pawar's NCP under the Mahayuti banner said that there is nothing wrong with the slogan.
"I don't see anything wrong in Yogi ji's slogans. Look at the history of this country. Jab Jab bate hai tab gulam bane hai. Whenever this country was divided into castes, states, divided into communities society we became slaves. The country was also divided, and so were the people. That's why if we divide, we will be cut. This is the history of this country," Fadnavis said in an interview with ANI.
"And I don't understand that if someone says don't divide, then what is the point of objecting to this?" he added.
The campaigning has intensified for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, with both the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) making efforts to woo the electorate. The Maharashtra elections 2024 are scheduled for November 20, and counting will be held on November 23.
Ajit Pawar further highlighted the campaign ahead of state assembly polls on November 20 saying that his party's intention is to get as many votes for the Mahayuti alliance.
"I am a member of the alliance and we are involved in it. Our intention is to win as many votes as possible for Mahayuti, and we are going according to that," he added.
"The work we have done, the plans we have brought, you must have seen that in about 2-3 months, I am going to Maharashtra through Janh Samman Yatra... We have only one goal, the Mahayuti government should come back," the NCP leader stated.
(With inputs from ANI)
