Raut claims a section of rebel MLAs want to return back; Maharashtra BJP chief denies knowledge of secret meeting between Shinde, Amit Shah and Fadnavis
@the_news_21
Mumbai: As Maharashtra’s political turmoil fuelled by internal revolt within the ruling Shiv Sena entered its sixth day on Sunday, Sena MP Sanjay Raut contended that had the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kept their promise of sharing the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s post with his party for two-and-a-half years, then Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray himself would have backed rebel Sena Minister Eknath Shinde’s name for the Chief Ministers post.
The Sena chief spokesperson had earlier said that the party’s doors were closed for Eknath Shinde and the rebel MLAs. However, today Raut said that he was still in talks with a section of legislators holed up in Guwahati while hinting at the possibility that they would be taken into the Sena’s fold if they returned to Mumbai.
Speaking to newspersons in Mumbai Raut remarked, “I have just spoken with some rebel Sena MLAs. The Shiv Sena’s doors still open for those who want to return back.” In the same breath he lambasted the rebel camp for sitting in Guwahati and teaching Uddhav Thackeray and the Sena in Maharashtra about loyalty to (late Sena founder) Balasaheb Thackeray.
Warning the Sena rebels not to mislead the people by claiming to be the ‘real Shiv Sena’, Raut remarked, “Sitting in Guwahati, do not preach to us about loyalty to Balasaheb Thackeray. Uddhav Thackeray has made it clear that the rebels cannot use his father’s name. Why don’t you (Sena rebels) use your father’s name to start a new party? You claim you are Balasaheb’s staunch followers, but such ‘staunch followers’ do not stab the Sena in the back. We (Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena) have been restrained till now. But lakhs of Shiv Sainiks are waiting for our signal.”
Earlier, Sanjay Raut tweeted that the rebels could not hole out indefinitely in Guwahati and that they would soon have to come to Mumbai’s ‘Chowpatty’.
The Sena chief spokesperson further accused the BJP of sponsoring hotel parties of the rebel Sena MLAs who had joined Eknath Shinde at Guwahati’s Radisson Blu while floods ravaged the north-eastern state of Assam.
Throwing the challenge to the rebel Sena MLAs, Sanjay Raut further remarked, “If you have the guts, then resign and show the courage to win elections from your respective constituencies. Even when (Union Minister and BJP leader) Narayan Rane quit the Sena, he resigned and contested elections.” The Sena MP expressed confidence that the MVA government would survive the rebellion.
Stating that the rebellion of Eknath Shinde and the 40-odd MLAs with him was “no political earthquake”, the Sena MP, in his column ‘Rokhthok’ in the party mouthpiece Saamana, said that the Sena has endured several such ‘earthquakes’ in the past to emerge unscathed.
Raut further stated that Eknath Shinde would have stood a better chance of becoming Maharashtra’s Chief Minister had he remained within the party instead of revolting. He further warned the rebel Sena MLAs that the BJP was out to make ‘slaves’ of the 40 MLAs.
The Sena chief spokesperson argued, “Uddhav Thackeray became CM as he was urged by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to lead the newly-formed MVA government. Had the BJP kept its promise of letting a Shiv Sainik share the CM’s post for half the five-year term, then Uddhav Thackeray himself would have put forward Eknath Shinde’s name. So, it is the BJP and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis who have scuttled Eknath Shinde’s dream of becoming CM.”
Ridiculing BJP’s claims of innocence in the ongoing political drama, the Sena leader said that if the latter claimed not to have a hand in generating the crisis, then what was the need of such elaborate arrangements to keep the Sena rebels lodged in BJP-ruled states.
Raut questioned, “What kind of ‘democracy’ is this? You (BJP) are spiriting our MLAs from one state and one hotel to another? Under the name of ostensibly ‘saving democracy’ (from the MVA), untold sums of money are being spent on chartered planes, cars and posh hotels to ferry the rebel MLAs.”
He further pointed out that all those who revolted against the Sena like Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane later saw their political careers run into rough weather. Sanjay Raut stressed that a split in the Sena’s Legislative party did not translate into a split in the Shiv Sena as a whole.
Meanwhile, responding to Sanjay Raut’s contentions, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil denied having any knowledge of a ‘secret meeting’ between rebel Eknath Shinde, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis in Gujarat’s Vadodara.
Patil remarked further, “Nothing in Maharashtra’s political situation has transpired until now to warrant for the BJP to clarify its stance. While we are obviously monitoring the situation closely as befits a political party, we are going about our work in a routine manner instead of worrying whether the government is stable or unstable.”
