Maharashtra: Sena hits back at Raut, says he wanted to topple Uddhav

Raut said had Ahmad Patel still been alive, he would have substantiated his claim.

When The Indian Express sought to find out from Raut as to who the other leaders accompanying Shinde were, he said, “I will soon disclose it, may be at tomorrow’s press conference in Mumbai.”

When asked about the specific day when Shinde met Patel to seek entry into Congress, Raut said, “I will disclose this soon too.” Ten years ago, Shinde was part of the undivided Shiv Sena.

When contacted, Prithviraj Chavan refused to comment whether Shinde had tried to join the Congress. Despite repeatedly asking if what Raut said was true or false, Chavan refused to comment.

Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “What Raut had said belongs to a decade back. I was new at that time… I will talk discuss it with Prithviraj Chavan.”

Shinde has attacked the Congress since the time he left MVA and joined hands with BJP to form the Mahayuti Congress. A Congress leader said, “Shinde has been repeating lines given to him by the BJP to attack the Congress. And the same Shinde was once desperate to join the Congress.”

The Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena did not deny that the party chief had made an attempt to join the Congress in the past. Instead, it attacked Raut, saying he wanted to take over the reins of the undivided Shiv Sena by sidelining Uddhav Thackeray.

Sena spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat alleged that ”it was Raut who was trying to become the party president in the undivided Shiv Sena by removing Uddhav Thackeray. Raut used to tell us to form a separate group to carry out his plan”.