Maharashtra poll: Rahul Gandhi’s bag checked, Congress leader questions authorities

Poll authorities on Saturday checked the bag of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Dhamangaon Railway in Maharashtra’s Amravati district.

He was here to address a public rally for the November 20 Assembly poll.

Gandhi’s bag was checked after his helicopter landed at the helipad in Dhamangaon Railway, which is among the eight assembly seats in the Amravati district.

Former state minister and Congress’ Teosa MLA Yashomati Thakur, speaking to reporters, questioned the action of the poll authorities and asked why they were not checking bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah or Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The checking of bags of leaders, a practice of the poll authorities to enforce the model code of conduct, came to the fore in the state’s election campaign after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray was subjected to it in Yavatmal.

Thackeray not only shot a video of the procedure but also chided the poll authorities on not checking bags of Modi, Shah, Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

However, videos that surfaced subsequently showed bags of Shah, Shinde, Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, etc. being checked by poll authorities.