UBT Sena, BJP trade charges over leaked audio tape

The UBT Sena has waded into the controversy over a leaked audio tape that has triggered a rift between the BJP and Shiv Sena.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena's MP, Sanjay Raut, claimed that it was a BJP MLC who leaked the audio tape, where a woman, purportedly a BJP leader, was heard saying that Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde received Rs 500 crore from the BJP to "manage" Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil during the 2024 elections. The BJP has hit back, claiming that it was the UBT Sena that manufactured the tape to create discord between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Shinde.

Raut demanded that Fadnavis, instead of ordering a forensic probe, should file a case and begin investigations into the leak of the tape as well as its contents. "The forensic probe ordered is an attempt to whitewash the entire case. What report will they make? It is clear that a fight has broken out between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde," he said.

According to Raut, a BJP MLC was involved in leaking the audio tape and the episode showed the writing on the wall for the BJP, "as its own secrets were no longer safe".

The BJP, meanwhile, claimed that the audio tape was fabricated and that it was Raut who made it in a bid to create discord between Fadnavis and Shinde. "According to my information, this audio tape was prepared in the war room of Sanjay Raut. Work on this was happening at his end for the last two months. Voices of the BJP leaders in the audio clip are publicly available, and technology was used to manufacture such a clip," said BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban.