Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s unsolicited advice to make Sharad Pawar as UPA chief in place of Sonia Gandhi has not gone down well with his Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance members.
Sanjay Raut in a recent interview to Aaj Tak had suggested that UPA should be led by Sharad Pawar to regain its dominance in national politics. He further stated that UPA needed restructuring and support of all the regional parties to take the BJP head-on. To this, Congress Spokesperson, Sachin Sawant has commented that Shiv Sena is not a part of UPA, Sanjay Raut has no right to make any suggestions, as per a Lokmat report. He added that Shiv Sena first needs to be a part of UPA and then make demands or suggestions.
Congress leader, Nana Patole questioned if Sanjay Raut is NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s spokesperson and suggested he should not comment on things he is not involved in. The Shiv Sena leader was also attacked by NCP’s Nawab Malik who questioned Sanjay Raut’s authority to make such comments.
Sanjay Raut in his interview had claimed that this was not his demand alone but there have been talks in the political circle that UPA should be led by a non-Congress leader. In another media conference, Raut had claimed that Sonia Gandhi has done a good job till now as UPA leader but it is now time for Sharad Pawar to take over. He added that Sonia Gandhi has been unwell and been staying away from politics, because of which Pawar should now take over.
These remarks have not gone down well with the Congress and NCP leaders.
It must be noted that Shiv Sena is in alliance with NCP and Congress for the Maharashtra government as “Maha Vikas Aghadi”. However, Shiv Sena is not part of the United Progressive Alliance, led by Sonia Gandhi and Congress. NCP is part of the UPA as well. Essentially, Raut was advising about an alliance his party is not even part of.
Maharashtra opposition leader, Devendra Fadnavis too refused to answer a question pertaining to Sanjay Raut in a press conference yesterday stating he is no big politician that all his questions or allegations should be answered. He took a jibe at the Sena politician saying that he has ample of time to make such allegations.
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Sanjay Raut had questioned how BJP managed to get call recordings of officers and leaders allegedly involved in the transfer racket gate. While his worry was obvious, he suggested that the entire controversy is frivolous. To this Devendra Fadnavis replied that if the allegations are baseless then why the MVA is worried.
Meanwhile, the MVA concluded a cabinet meeting last evening which witnessed the presence of all ministers including Home Minister Anil Deshmukh who was seen taking a back door entry. The Maha Vikas Aghadi ministers have questioned the whistleblowers’ role and have alleged that she tapped into phones illegally. They have demanded an inquiry into how Rashmi Shukla procured permissions for phone tapping.