Uddhav Thackeray’s Bags Searched Again by Election Officials in Latur | Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar News – Times of India

Uddhav Thackeray, former Maharashtra CM, had his bags checked by election officials for a second time in two days, prompting him to question if similar checks were conducted on PM Modi and other top politicians.

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: A team of election officials, for the second time in two days, checked the bags of former Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray after his helicopter landed at Kasar Shirsi village in Latur district on Tuesday afternoon.
Senior officials from the Latur district administration said Election Commission guidelines were followed while checking Thackeray’s bags.
“Senior BJP politicians Nitin Gadkari and Vinod Tawde and Congress’s Amit Deshmukh also underwent a similar luggage check at Kasar Shirsi helipad on Tuesday. MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Congress’s Nana Patole, and RPI chief Ramdas Athawale are among the VIPs who went through similar frisking while preferring air travel in Latur ever since the poll campaign began,” an official said.
Another official said a car belonging to supporters of Shiv Sena’s Abdul Sattar was also frisked at Soygaon, but nothing objectionable was found.
Thackeray had on Monday expressed outrage after his bags were checked by officials deployed by the Election Commission (EC) at Wani, Yavatmal, ahead of a poll rally. He questioned if such checks were conducted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde or his deputies, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.
On Tuesday, Thackeray posted a video showing election staff frisking his bags at the Kasar Shirsi helipad. Asking the staffers “not to be shy” in checking his luggage, he first told them to show their identity cards and appointment letters. He also told them to make it clear if they had money in their wallets.
When asked by Thackeray how many such frisking operations they have done on Tuesday, one EC staffer was heard saying the Sena (UBT) chief was the “first one”. Thackeray then said, “Why am I always the first customer?”
Referring to PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Maharashtra during the day, he said, “Modi is coming today (Tuesday) and I would like to see you go to Solapur airport, which is shut (in view of the PM’s visit). Narendra Modi should also be subjected to this kind of checking….In Odisha, one official was suspended for checking Modi.”
Thackeray later said, “I am not angry with you, but the same law should be applied to Narendra Modi when he is coming for election campaign.”
He asked the officials, “Are you all Maharashtrians?” When they answered in the affirmative, he said, “We should live and die for Maharashtra and not do the jobs of other states.”
Though Thackeray said he was not angry with the poll staff for checking his luggage, he said he was unhappy about “one-sided justice”.
Meanwhile, Thackeray was stranded at the Latur airport for a brief period after authorities denied permission for his flight, citing air travel by PM Modi who was campaigning in Solapur. Thackeray was supposed to reach Umarga for campaigning. His helicopter could take off after some delay.