Raut also criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after actor Salman Khan was seen meeting its chief, Mohan Bhagwat, on Saturday at an event celebrating the RSS’s centenary
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. File Pic
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said the BJP had no choice but to select a Marathi mayor for Mumbai, citing strong support from Marathi voters for his party and the MNS in the BMC elections.
According to the news agency PTI, Raut also criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after actor Salman Khan was seen meeting its chief, Mohan Bhagwat, on Saturday at an event celebrating the RSS’s centenary.
"Was it a welcome for Bollywood star Salman Khan or a message that Muslims are also welcome in the Sangh and its shakhas?" the Rajya Sabha member asked.
He added that Bhagwat should have clarified, given the way Hindu-Muslim hatred and vindictive propaganda are being spread, and accused the Sangh of being part of it.
On the BJP fielding Ritu Tawde (53) for Mumbai mayor, Raut said she is originally from the Congress and claimed that the BJP “does not have anything original of its own.”
Marathi voter influence led BJP to select Mumbai mayor, claims Raut
"The way Marathi people overwhelmingly voted for the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS, the BJP had to make a Marathi mayor in Mumbai," he stated, reported PTI.
Tawde is set to become Mumbai's mayor and the BJP’s first in four decades after Sena (UBT) decided against fielding a challenger, making the contest unopposed and ending the Thackeray family’s 25-year dominance over the city’s richest civic body.
The Mumbai mayoral election is scheduled for February 11, which is the last day to withdraw nominations.
As per PTI, the Sena (UBT) had raised the emotive “Marathi identity” plank in last month’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, where the party had allied with the MNS. The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 227-member BMC by winning 89 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena secured 29 seats.
In the Opposition camp, the Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, while its allies—the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)—won six and one seat, respectively.
Sanjay Raut targets Praful Patel, accuses him of being ‘closer to BJP than NCP’
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on NCP working president Praful Patel, accusing him of being more aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) than with his own party, reported the PTI.
Raut said Patel must act only in a manner acceptable to Maharashtra and the Marathi manoos.
Addressing reporters, Raut said the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was founded and led by the Pawar family, not by Patel.
“Praful Patel should do only what is acceptable to Maharashtra and the Marathi manoos. The NCP is a party of Pawars, not Patels. He is a bigger devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah than a leader of his own party,” Raut alleged, according to the PTI.
He also claimed that NCP state president Sunil Tatkare was leaning towards the BJP.
(With PTI inputs)
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