Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut and chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis quizzed each other at a media house award ceremony.
Politics make for strange bedfellows. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and its saffron ally, the Shiv Sena may be at loggerheads, but on Tuesday leaving their differences aside, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut and chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis quizzed each other at a media house award ceremony.
During the much-hyped rendezvous, Raut questioned Fadnavis on a gamut of issues, ranging from irrigation scam to party-hoppers, from graft to the alleged squandering of public money. When asked about the irrigation scam in the state, the CM said that 21 FIRs had been filed so far. He added that that in four cases chargesheets were also filed and the inquiry proved that there was corruption and public money was diverted for personal gains.
When Raut asked the CM about BJP minister Chandrakant Patil's threat of filling jail cells next to arrested NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal with more opposition leaders, Fadnavis quipped that inquiries in the scam have begun and the jail cells would certainly be filled up soon with corrupt people.
The Sena-BJP alliance which is going through rough in Maharashtra. The two party leaders have always taken potshots at each ever since their relations strained. The relations soured to such an extent that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made it official during a party convention that they will go solo in the forthcoming 2019 elections.
There were some tense moments in the tête-à-tête, especially when Raut complained to Fadnavis about BJP MP and former Sena leader Narayan Rane. Rane allegedly said that he would quit the BJP if the Sena and BJP enter into an alliance. "If you had not treated us like a mistress on a day-to-day basis then we would have not been forced to induct Rane in our party," he said.
When asked to explain why the alliance with the Sena couldn't take place during the last assembly polls Fadnavis said, "It was broken since Sena insisted on contesting 151 seats. Had it agreed to our offer of 147, Uddhav Thackeray or Sanjay Raut could have been chief minister of the state," Fadnavis said.
The CM expressed his respect and gratitude towards Sena chief Bal Thackeray. However, Raut reminded the CM that the BJP had refused to ally with the same party (Sena) in the 2014 assembly election.
When asked the Sena-BJP alliance in the coming polls, the CM said, "If the so-called secular parties come together for next elections, then the real secular parties, who believe in Hindutva would have to come together." He added that people of the country believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and have faith in him due to which the NDA would come to power in 2019 in country and state.
Scam Grill
When asked about the irrigation scam, the CM said that 21 FIRs had been filed so far. He added that in four cases chargesheets were also filed
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 "Sanjay Raut")
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