Won't campaign for Shiv Sena's Abdul Sattar in Sillod seat: Local BJP leader

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The local BJP unit has informed the Maharashtra party leadership that it will not campaign for ally Shiv Sena's candidate Abdul Sattar, who is contesting the November 20 assembly poll from Sillod seat in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Talking to PTI on Tuesday, city BJP president Kamlesh Kataria claimed state Minorities Development Minister Sattar had been talking about "finishing" the saffron party in Sillod and threatening its workers.

Sattar earlier won the Sillod assembly seat in 2009 and 2014 on the opposition Congress' ticket. He later joined the then undivided Shiv Sena and successfully contested the 2019 election on its ticket.

After the party split, Sattar joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and became cabinet minister in the Mahayuti government, which also comprises the BJP and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's NCP.

Sattar is pitted against Suresh Bankar of Uddhav Thackeray's party Shiv Sena (UBT) in Sillod.

The assembly segment is part of the Jalna Lok Sabha constituency, from where BJP leader and former Union minister Raosaheb Danve lost to Congress' Kalyan Kale in the parliamentary polls held earlier this year.

"We will not campaign for Sattar in the Sillod assembly constituency. Though Sattar is the Mahayuti's candidate, he speaks of finishing the BJP from Sillod. He threatens BJP workers and lodges fake complaints against them," Kataria alleged.

Kataria also claimed that Sattar openly campaigned for Kale and did not work to make Danve victorious in the Jalna Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP's first priority is national interest and in this context, Sattar is not a fit candidate, he said.

"I have sent a letter to state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informing that we will not campaign for Sattar," Kataria added.