India
‘Balasaheb Thackeray’s future was never decided in Delhi’: Sanjay Raut on Maharashtra CM’s tension | India News – Times of India
Sena leader Sanjay Raut pointed out that unlike before, the Bharatiya Janata Party is now taking decisions on the future of the state in Delhi.
Speaking to reporters, Raut wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite having around 140 legislators and a clear majority, has not appointed chief minister for Maharashtra after seven days.
“What’s going on internally? We believe that if you have a majority, you should decide on a chief minister within 24 hours, regardless of party. Why is it so difficult for Modi, Shah and their leaders to decide on party nominations? Chief Minister? The public wants to know. They say they will do what Modi says, but what other options did they have? Balasaheb Thackerayand acts on behalf of Shiv Sena, but decisions about its future are taken in Delhi. The future of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena was never decided in Delhi; it was decided in Mumbai. We have never been to Delhi. There were leaders like Atal Ji and Advani Ji, but we never begged in their presence to take decisions about Shiv Sena. We will take our own decisions under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray,” he said.
After Maha Vikas Agadhi’s poor performance in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections, Raut acknowledged that Karyakartas felt the party should have contested independently. However, he clarified that Sena (UBT) would not leave the MVA.
“Don’t leave MVA. We are discussing. Karyakartas felt that we should have fought independently. These are just rumours. We fought in an MVA alliance in Lok Sabha and it was a big thing to win such a big number,” Raut said.
Speaking about Shiv Sena’s participation in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, Raut expressed confidence in the decision-making ability of the MVA leaders.
“Why are you worried? The results of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections have just been announced… we will see, we know what to do. MVA leaders are in a position to take decisions regarding the BMC polls ” he said.
In the Maharashtra elections, the Mahayuti alliance won a landslide victory, with the BJP emerging as the biggest winner with 132 seats from the 280-member Maharashtra Assembly, while its allies – the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar – won 57 and 41 seats respectively.
While the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) managed to get only 46 seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav Thackeray, won only 20 seats, the Congress won 16 and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) won only 10.
