Congress slams BJP IT cell over hashtag supporting re-election in Maha

The Congress party on Friday slammed the IT Cell of BJP for allegedly 'misusing' the fame of Marathi cine and stage artistes for campaigning for re-election in Maharashtra after no party could form a government in the state. In a press note, the Congress party alleged that this hashtag was being a misuse of stardom of Marathi cine and stage artistes by the BJP IT Cell for propaganda.

Maharashtra Congress General Secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant also shared a screenshot of hashtag "Punhanivdaduk" (re-election) where several Marathi artistes have made similar tweets.

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In the screenshot, actors Sonali Kulkarni, Siddhartha Jadhav, Sai Tamhankar and Ankush Choudhary, etc., were seen making similar tweets. Sawant also alleged that the IT Cell of the BJP was spreading propaganda to create an atmosphere of uncertainty in Maharashtra in the name of "mid-term polls".

"Congress has also demanded a police probe into the matter for any larger conspiracy while several actors using the same hashtag in an almost identical way," the statement said. The hashtag "Punhanivdaduk" is trending in Mumbai and Maharashtra, where many Twitter users are sharing their views, supporting the BJP or criticising the Shiv Sena for seeking an alliance with the NCP and the Congress.

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President's rule in Maharashtra

President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra on Tuesday after none of the parties — Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress, and NCP — could form a stable government. Sena, which initially challenged the move in the Supreme Court, has put a hold on its plea, as the three parties try to stitch an alliance to form the next government. The Mahayuti alliance fell out with the Sena insisting on an equal sharing of CM post for 2.5 years and portfolios, while BJP refused to accept these demands. The saffron alliance swept Maharashtra on October 24, winning a combined tally of 161 (BJP- 105, Sena -56), while the 'Maha- Agadhi' alliance (NCP-54, Congress-44) bagged 98 seats in total. The halfway mark is 145.

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CMP finalised, Sena, breaks from NDA

Earlier on Thursday, the final draft of CMP was prepared in the joint meeting of the leaders from the three parties.  Congress' Prithviraj Chavan, Manikrao Thakre and Vijay Wadettiwar, Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai and NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal, Nawab Malik and Jayant Patil met in Mumbai to decide the portfolios split, target issues. etc. Meanwhile, Sena and BJP's Maharashtra battle reached a national level as Sena's 18 Lok Sabha MPs too decided on Thursday to boycott the all MPs meeting on November 17 prior to the Winter session of the Parliament. On the other hand, Former CM Devendra Fadnavis has stated that 'three parties can not run a government. There is no alternative to the BJP government,' hinting at re-elections.

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(with ANI inputs)