Fadnavis, Shah tried to work for Gadkari's defeat in LS polls, claims Raut

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis worked for Nitin Gadkari's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Raut alleged that Fadnavis had unwillingly campaigned for Gadkari, who contested from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, when he realised the Union minister couldn't be defeated.

Nagpur is the hometown of both BJP leaders.

"Modi, Shah and Fadnavis worked for Gadkari's defeat in Nagpur. Fadnavis unwillingly joined the campaign for Gadkari when he realised he couldn't be defeated. The RSS people in Nagpur are openly saying Fadnavis helped the opposition to get Gadkari defeated," he wrote in an article in his party's mouthpiece "Saamna".

The Sena (UBT) leader alleged that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had distributed Rs 25-30 crore in every constituency, and his machinery worked to defeat candidates of the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

Taking a potshot at Yogi Adityanath, he said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister will be replaced if the Modi-Shah government returns to power after the Lok Sabha elections. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra were held in five phases from April 19 to May 20.

Reacting sharply to the claims, state BJP chief Chandrasekhar Bawankule said Raut had become "delusional".

"The BJP is not a party but a family. People who have always played politics of factionalism will never understand family bonds. Modi, Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Gadkari and Fadnavis are part of the BJP's family. We always work on the principle of nation first, then party and last self," he said.

For Raut, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar always comes first, his interests and Uddhav Thackeray come last, 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.