Not just cause split, BJP wants to destroy Shiv Sena, claims Raut

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday hit out at the BJP, saying it does not want to just engineer a split in the party, but intends to altogether finish the regional outfit to realise its dream of ”breaking” Maharashtra into three parts.

He also dubbed the newly-installed Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government as ”illegal”.

Talking to reporters here in North Maharashtra, the Rajya Sabha MP hit out at rebel Sena MLAs and said they may have returned home, but Shiv Sainiks will ensure they do not get re-elected to the Legislative Assembly whenever polls are held.

The rebel Sena MLAs first reached Surat from Mumbai on June 21, then flew to Guwahati and also stayed in Goa before returning to the state capital.

Raut, the Sena’s chief spokesperson, said the rebel MLAs have been changing the reasons for revolting against the party leadership, an act which brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government late last month.

“The BJP does not want to engineer a split in the Shiv Sena, but it wants to finish the party. Till the time Shiv Sena exists, they cannot realise their dream of breaking Maharashtra into three pieces. They cannot free Mumbai (from Maharashtra till the time Sena exists),” he asserted.

Slamming the rebel MLAs, Raut said they keep changing the reasons for rebelling against the party leadership — from accusing the Sena of deserting the Hindutva plank to then-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s inaccessibility, to the NCP (which handled finance portfolio under MVA government) not allocating funds to their constituencies.

The Sena MP described the new government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who took oath on June 30, as “illegal”.

At a time when the disqualification plea of 16 Sena MLAs was pending before the Supreme Court, how can the Governor order a trust vote, Raut asked.

The Shinde-led government won the trust vote in the Assembly on July 4.