Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: Taking a dig at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his 'dharma buddha' statement, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday called Fadnavis a 'dharmatraodhi' and said that when it is time for them to face defeat, they start talking about such things. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut said that in the Maharashtra elections, they go to Jharkhand and talk of 'dharma buddha' (religious war). There is only one 'dharma' in Maharashtra, and that is the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which unites all of us to protect it. Eknath Shinde and the BJP have a different 'dharma' - they focus on the Hindu-Muslim divide. When it is time for them to face defeat, they start talking about 'dharmayuddha'.

Sanjay Raut further alleged that Devendra Fadnavis also said that he would hoist the Indian flag in Pakistan. He said there is an election for the Maharashtra assembly and it is happening in Maharashtra - what does Pakistan have to do with it? First, go and hoist the flag in PoK. You have made many promises. You talk about 'dharma', but in reality, you are betraying it; 'Aap toh dharmadrohi hai'.

Fadnavis had been accused of doing vote jihad.

Devendra Fadnavis on Friday accused the opposition of doing vote jihad and urged voters to counter it with a crusade of votes. He said vote jihad is going on in the state. Sajjad Nomani says...the slogan of vote jihad has been given and you have heard in the video who is the leader of this vote jihad. I want to tell all of you that if they do vote jihad, we will have to do a crusade of votes. If we are united, we are safe. He also accused some opposition parties of trying to polarize the elections to get votes. He said that we are not against any religion. We have given our plan to everyone. But some parties are trying to polarize the elections for votes. Let us tell you, the Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held on November 20, and counting of votes will be done on November 23. In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena won 56 and Congress won 44 seats. In 2014, BJP had won 122 seats, Shiv Sena 63, and Congress 42 seats.