Led by Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday attacked Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He alleged that the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister had created a split in the Shiv Sena due to fear of arrest in the alleged phone tapping case.
He said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Center would lose the Lok Sabha elections. He also stressed that the new government would investigate the cases against BJP leaders and Chief Minister Akanath Shinde, which had been closed.
Raut said that when Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) was in power from 2019-2022, investigation was going on in various cases against BJP leaders Praveen Darekar, Prasad Lad, Ashish Shelar, Girish Mahajan.
Can’t touch party leaders
He said, ‘If you arrest our leaders, can’t we touch your party leaders? Devendra Fadnavis has been seriously accused of tapping his opponents’ phones. Fearing that he might be arrested and face punishment, he created a split in the Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena split in 2022
It is worth noting that in June 2022, the Shiv Sena split after the majority of the MLAs of the party under the leadership of Eknath Shinde rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray. Last year, the Election Commission as well as the Speaker of the State Assembly recognized the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena. Also assigned a bow and arrow election symbol.
Fadnavis, who was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019, also took over the leadership of the Ministry of Interior. The then head of the State Intelligence Department (SID), Rashmi Shukla, was accused of illegally tapping the phones of opposition leaders. In September last year, the Bombay High Court quashed two FIRs against Shukla, who is now the state’s Director General of Police.
