The Shiv Sena on Sunday sought to know why top BJP leaders held so many rallies for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis feels there is no Opposition left in the fray to challenge his party-led alliance.
In a column in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', party's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut also claimed that the poll plunge of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray will change the state's "political dynamics" in coming years.
Hinting at the waning strength of the Opposition parties, Fadnavis recently said there was no "wrestler" left in the fray who can challenge the BJP-led alliance.
"The chief minister has been asserting that the opposition 'does not exist' any more in the poll campaign. The question then arises about the motive behind some 10 rallies of (Prime Minister) Modi, 30 of (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah, and Fadnavis himself holding 100 rallies across Maharashtra," Raut said.
The same question is being raised by NCP chief Sharad Pawar as well, which is not wrong, he said.
"Though Fadnavis said he is not facing any opposition challenge, in reality there is electoral challenge, which forced the BJP leaders to hold so many rallies," Raut, the Marathi daily's executive editor, claimed in his column 'RokhThok'.
He further said that Aaditya Thackeray's foray into elections was going to change the "political dynamics" of the state in coming years.
"He is contesting elections not to just sit in the Assembly, but the new generation wants him to lead the state," he claimed.
Aaditya Thackeray, the first member from his family to enter the electoral battle, is contesting the polls from Mumbai's Worli Assembly constituency.