Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had worked towards ensuring that none of NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s candidates are elected, Raut alleged. He also claimed that Shinde had spent Rs 25-30 crores in each constituency for the Lok Sabha polls.
In response, Shinde told the media, “The Mahayuti alliance is strong. On June 4, everything will be clear.
Doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani
.”
Raut made the statements in his Rokthok column in the party newspaper Saamna on Sunday.
Raut alleged that Fadnavis had unwillingly campaigned for Gadkari, when he realised the Union minister couldn’t be defeated. “The RSS people in Nagpur are openly saying Fadnavis helped the Opposition to get Gadkari defeated,” stated Raut.
“Gadkari and Yogi (Adityanath) face the same situation,” the column said. “The slogan among Adityanath’s followers is – if Yogi has to be saved, then Modi has to go,” stated Raut in his column. “The North’s Yogi and his followers have decided to defeat Modi and Shah,” the column said.
Raut said that Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would be defeated and their government would fall. “The India Alliance will get around 300 seats,” he stated. In Maharashtra, the Modi-Shah camp would be defeated in 32 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, the column stated.
“Prime Minister Modi has ruled the country like Russian President Putin. He has made people into slaves. But even slaves rise in rebellion,” the column said. Raut also said that there were questions about whether Modi would hand over power or would resist doing so, like former US President Donald Trump. “Modi and Shah will have to accept it because the people will come out on the streets,” said Raut.
Opposition leader from the NCP (SP), Anil Deshmukh supported Raut’s claims regarding Gadkari’s election. “The whole of Nagpur knows this. Their own party’s people know this,” he said.
State BJP chief Chandrasekhar Bawankule said Raut had become “delusional.” He said, “The BJP is not a party but a family. People who have always played the politics of factionalism will never understand family bonds. We always work on the principle of nation first, then party and last self,” he said.
“If Raut has the courage, he should write a column about how he tried to become the chief minister in 2019 (when the undivided Shiv Sena joined hands with the NCP and Congress),” Bawankule said.
Senior BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “Raut has a habit of making sensational statements. His allegations are not only false but utter nonsense.”