Uddhav Thackeray irked with ECI over bag checking in Yavatmal

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday publicly expressed his anger after his bags were checked by Election Commission of India (ECI) officials when his helicopter landed in Wani in Yavatmal district.
Thackeray, who had gone to Yavatmal to address a rally for his party’s candidate for the Wani assembly constituency, Sanjay Derkar, questioned the ECI if it asks for the bags of ruling party leaders to be inspected too.
“I want to ask them if they check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Ajit Pawar?” said Thackeray.
The former chief minister reached Wani in a helicopter on Monday afternoon. As soon as he and his personal assistant, MLC Milind Narvekar, stepped out of the chopper, officials on election duty approached Thackeray and said they wanted to inspect their luggage. Thackeray allowed them to check the bags but shot a video of the process, which was later posted on social media.
In the video, which was shot by Thackeray, he is heard asking ECI officials if they had inspected the bags of Shinde, Fadnavis, Pawar, Modi and Shah. When one of the officials responds saying these leaders are yet to visit the region, Thackeray tells him to inspect their bags when they do visit and send him videos as proof.
Later, at the Shiv Sena (UBT) rally in Wani, Thackeray publicly expressed his anger over the incident. “I am not angry with [the ECI officials] as they were doing their duty. But at the same time, I have a question: do they check the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, that bearded person (referring to Eknath Shinde), the man with the pink jacket (referring to Ajit Pawar) and that deputy CM Fadnavis?” he said.
Thackeray added that if the election authorities do not inspect the bags of ruling party leaders, workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance will check them. He also asked his party workers and voters to check the identity cards and pockets of election officials if they approached them.
Later in the day, Amol Kolhe, an MP from the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), an ally of the Shiv Sena (UBT), also claimed that ECI officials checked his luggage. “When I reached Sangli for a rally at Vita, officials on election duty checked my baggage,” he said.