ANIL DESHMUKH DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL
MUMBAI : Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that the party president Uddhav Thackeray would continue as the chief minister of Maharashtra for the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) remaining twoand-half year term.
He denied that Thackeray had promised to support Kolhapur royal family scion Yuvraj Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati’s bid as an independent nominee in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Raut, who is on a two-day organisational tour of Kolhapur, was speaking to reporters on Saturday. “Uddhav Thackeray will be the chief minister for the full five-year term…there is unanimity in the MVA on it,” said Raut.
He further said, “It is wrong to raise questions on the credibility of the chief minister. It was the Shiv Sena’s seat, and it was already decided that a Shiv Sena candidate would contest.” He added that the chief minister told Sambhajiraje that he would speak to his colleagues and then decide about him (Sambhajiraje) contesting as a Sena-supported independent.
On Friday, Sambhajiraje, whose term as a nominated Rajya Sabha MP is coming to an end next month, had withdrawn his bid to enter the upper house of Parliament as an independent with the Sena’s support, and charged Thackeray with not keeping his word to support him. The Shiv Sena had sought the royal contest as a party nominee. It has decided to nominate Raut and its Kolhapur district chief Sanjay Pawar from the two seats in its quota. Sambhajiraje’s charge had led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Chandrakant Patil to link this to Thackeray’s claim that the BJP had promised to share the chief minister’s post with the Sena.
Raut charged that the BJP was engaged in “opposition for the sake of opposition,” and had even criticised the MVA’S “propeople” decisions. “Nationwide, the royals in politics have had to join some party,” he added.
MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh was discharged from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (Bmc)-run KEM Hospital, Parel on Saturday evening and taken to Arthur Road jail where he has been lodged since November. The 72-year-old NCP leader had complaints of chest pain and uncontrolled high blood pressure. According to doctors at the hospital, Deshmukh was put on a 24-hour Holter heart monitoring machine and was kept under observation in the intensive care unit (ICU). “His medicines were altered depending on the readings we got from the machine. He was stable when discharged,” said the doctor. Deshmukh, who was arrested by the ED in November on money laundering and corruption charges, was admitted to JJ Hospital after he fell in the bathroom and dislocated his shoulder. He was admitted on April 2 under orthopaedic department care of JJ Hospital, and was supposed to undergo surgery for the recurrent shoulder relocation.