Neither CM nor I made any allegations against each other: Shinde

Shinde, who was campaigning for the ongoing civic polls, stressed that the elections were primarily local in nature. “These are local elections which are fought on local issues by local party workers,” he said. “There is no need to bring bigger or state-level political issues into these contests. But party workers certainly like to see senior leaders join them during the campaign and hence all but leaders are joining the campaign.”

He maintained that municipal and town council elections often turn on the strength of local leadership rather than on state-level political narratives. “We have focused on development and on the work our candidates have done during the campaign and are not levelling allegations against each other,” he said.

Speaking on the State Election Commission’s decision to postpone the elections in a few municipal councils, Shinde called the move “unfortunate”, noting that stopping a poll process once it begins “is not appropriate”. He said he had sought details and would speak further after reviewing the matter.

On the raid conducted at the office of Shiv Sena leader Shahaji Bapu Patil, Shinde said there would be an inquiry and described the development as “neither serious nor unusual”.