Aaditya slams Shinde govt, says Andheri bypoll candidate was troubled

Aaditya Thackeray, leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp of the Shiv Sena, on Friday slammed the Eknath Shinde-helmed Maharashtra government, saying that there is anger among people the way his party candidate Rutuja Latke was troubled.

Latke is the candidate of the 'Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray' for the next month's by-election to the Andheri east assembly constituency.

Thackeray said he is 100 per cent confident that Latke will get the votes of the Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents.

The MVA comprises the Thackeray-led faction of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.

Latke, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation employee, had tendered her resignation earlier this month, but the civic body was not accepting it.

Latke later had approached the Bombay high court, which on Thursday gave a relief to her as it directed the BMC to accept her resignation.

Aaditya Thackeray alleged that there was pressure on the BMC not to accept Latke's resignation.

"There is anger about the way a woman (Latke) was troubled. Be it BMC or the state government, the attempt was that she doesn't contest (the bypoll)...," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Murji Patel for the by-election.

He is the joint candidate of the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Sena.

The by-election for the Andheri East seat will be held on November 3.

It was necessitated due to the death of Rutuja Latke's husband Ramesh Latke, who was the sitting MLA from that constituency.