“The MVA protests were staged,” says Shiv Sena spokesperson Krishna Hegde ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections

Shiv Sena spokesperson (Shinde) and former MP Krishna Hedge (56)
visited the Free Press Journal office on Monday for a discussion ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. He spoke openly about ongoing
Controversies in the state including the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue and the Badlapur school sexual assault case, among others.

Excerpts:

Do you think the Shivaji Maharaj statue incident has tarnished the Mahayuti's image ahead of the elections?

No, it was a genuine mistake. I think the PWD officer who had identified the deficiencies in the bylaw should have carried out the repairs himself instead of writing to the Indian Navy. But yesterday was a black day for politics not only in Maharashtra but in the rest of India when a former chief minister (Uddhav Thackeray) smeared photographs of CM Eknath Shinde and his deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar with a chappal during the 'Jode Mara Andolan' organised by MVA on Sunday. Uddhav Thackeray smeared the chappal on Eknath Shinde's poster. It is unfortunate that the son of Bal Thackeray, whose memory is cherished by the people of Maharashtra, has done this.

Who commissioned the construction of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Rajkot Fort? Was it the Indian Navy or the PWD?

Contrary to all the information circulating that Rs 3,700 crore or Rs 38 crore was donated to the Indian Navy, only Rs 2.36 crore was spent on the statue. Though the work order was issued by the PWD, the construction manager said that the height of the statue had to be restricted to 6 feet as per the specifications. I have no documents to show how the 35-foot statue could be constructed. The important thing is that no one made the mistake intentionally. In any case, the government has formed two technical committees to ascertain the cause of the collapse. The MVA has politicized the incident for its own benefit.

A 'Jode Mara' andolan was supposed to be held in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, where incidents of Shivaji Maharaj statues being torn down by bulldozers and Vanton statues being damaged occurred. But Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar did not say a word about these incidents.

Chhatrapati Shivaji is not limited to Maharashtra. He is like a god for the entire country, he fought for Hindutva. Jawaharlal Nehru called Shivaji Maharaj a bandit in his book 'Discovery of India'. Statues of Shivaji Maharaj have been uprooted in Congress-ruled states. Will the Shiv Sena (UBT), which is allied with the Congress party, apologise to the people of Maharashtra?

Prime Minister Modi, CM Shinde and his two deputies Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar have expressed their gratitude to the people of
Maharashtra.

Is it not unfortunate that in the political blame game surrounding the toppling of the Shivaji Maharaj statue, the Indian Navy is being blamed?
No politician has blamed the Navy. It must have been a misunderstanding. Our government will not blame the Navy in any way. We are proud nationalists and would never blame our security forces.

The MVA also protested against the rising number of sexual abuse cases in the state. What do you say about the recent sexual harassment case at Badlapur school?

The incident in Badlapur where two children were sexually abused was very unfortunate. But the whole episode has been politicized to another level. The police report states that during the protest, people were asked to stop trains in buses for seven to eight hours. The government has taken appropriate steps and strict measures in this case. We have a
The school administrator suspended the governing body and four policemen, filed an FIR and charged the culprit with violating the POCSO Act.
The protest organised by MVA was aimed at tarnishing our image. The protesters carried Ladki Behna placards and I doubt what percentage of the crowd was actually protesting against the Badlapur incident. The issue was politicised.

Has the seat allocation formula for the Maharashtra state elections been finalised? Last night, Maha Yuti leaders met for a marathon session in Nagpur?

In my opinion, BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP will retain their existing seats.
For the remaining 80 seats, a formula will be decided for fair seat sharing as BJP has comparatively more seats and our other alliance partners like RPI(A) will be accommodated honourably. We will approach the people with winnable combinations.

How can you contest elections as an alliance when there is so much infighting within the Maha Yuti? Your own leader Tanaji Sawant says he vomits during meetings when he sits next to Ajit Pawar?

Tanaji Sawant is a senior politician and should not have spoken like that. But he is not the top leader of the party. The Prime Minister has already spoken to him about this issue.

What lessons have you learned from the Lok Sabha elections?

There was a delay in the announcement of candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.
Mistake will not be repeated. Most candidates know who gets tickets and have already started working in their areas.

There are talks of sending Devendra Fadnavis to Delhi. Does this have an impact on your election strategy?

I think Fadnavis would prefer to stay in Maharashtra. He is a leader who knows
in every district and block of Maharashtra. We don't know if the BJP will send him to Delhi, but Fadnavis has a reach across India. Whether it is Delhi or Maharashtra, he is an asset to our alliance.