Uddhav fighting Rahul via Sanjay Raut?: BJP ponders Sena's 'strategy' for ally Congress

Vice President of BJP's Maharashtra unit Kirit Somaiya on Saturday, January 18, while speaking to Republic TV, blamed Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray over Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut's statement on Veer Savarkar. He said it exemplified, "What I feel since day one - the manner in which all these three parties are fighting with each other to hijack the government."

"Simultaneously, within the Congress, Rahul Gandhi doesn't find himself comfortable with Shiv Sena and within Shiv Sena, the party's MLAs, leaders have been hijacked by the Thackeray family and the newcomers. I don't understand why they didn't discuss the policy issues. Savarkar, Hindutva, the common civil code, the Ram Janmabhoomi. They just rushed for the power and now I think that Sanjay Raut's such statement- the first one about Indira Gandhi and Karim Lala's under-world relations, and now regarding Savarkar," he said. 

Somaiya blames Uddhav Thackeray

Blaming Uddhav Thackeray over Raut's statements, the BJP leader said, "I think Sanjay Raut is fighting with Uddhav Thackeray or Uddhav Thackeray is fighting with Rahul Gandhi through Sanjay Raut."

He added, "Sanjay Raut is a major main only spokesperson of Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena. In a way, he is the hero behind bringing the three parties together. Whatever Sanjay Raut is behaving since two days, Udddhav Thackeray has never criticized him. Shiv Sena has never taken back the statement. They have not openly apologized. I feel this is a strategy of Uddhav Thackeray to pressurize Rahul Gandhi via Sanjay Raut."

Read: Shiv Sena sources claim Raut's 'Indira-don' remark due to his brother's cabinet exclusion

Kirit Somaiya's tweet

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Sanjay Raut's 'Veer Savarkar' statement

In a big statement yet again, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that "those insulting Savarkar should be jailed." He added that people speaking against Savarkar will understand his role in nation-building only when they are put in the same prison in Andaman where the British had lodged Savarkar. While Raut had earlier said that those speaking against Savarkar has dirt in their mind, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had mocked him while addressing a rally in the national capital. 

Read: Gave free Savarkar notebook to kids for their benefit, suspended on WhatsApp: MP Principal

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