Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut replies to breach of privilege notice issued by Maharashtra Speaker

He also clarified in the letter that his ‘chor mandal’ remark was meant for a particular section of MLAs belonging to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and it was not directed towards the entire legislature as claimed by the MLAs of the ruling alliance.

Raut’s letter dated March 19 reads: “The hearing of the five-member bench of the Supreme Court on the validity of the (Shinde Fadnavis led state) government is over and the verdict is awaited. Therefore, I am of the clear opinion that charges of disqualification are pending against some of the members of the privilege committee.”

“It has come to my attention that the complainant who has complained about me has been appointed in the privilege committee and it is against natural justice to involve the complainant in the process. This is my as well as the experts’ opinion. The committee constituted for the breach of privilege was supposed to be independent and neutral in nature, but it seems that only my political opponents were deliberately appointed in the committee. This does not follow the parliamentary democratic tradition,” the letter adds.

Further clarifying his stand on his ‘controversial’ remark, Raut said he respects the legislature and would never make any statement that would bring disrepute to the legislature.

He called the breach of privilege notice a ploy of parties opposed to him.

“All the posts were given to us by Hon’ble Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray. He created the Shiv Sena. So the current duplicate Shiv Sena board is not a legislature but a thief board,” Raut stated, adding “my statement was prominently published in all the newspapers of Kolhapur on 1st March, that is, I did not call the Vidhan Mandal a Chor Mandal, but it was mentioned only for a group…”

“The case against the members of this faction (Shinde-led Sena) is going on in the Supreme Court. Some of them (Shinde-led Sena MLAs) are members of the Privilege Committee. Therefore, after the verdict of the court, the committee may turn out to be unconstitutional. In order to ensure that the legislature does not become a laughing stock, I presented the truth,” Raut said.