Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Raut at Matoshree praises Fadnavis
MUMBAI: In what is interpreted as a gesture to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid the growing animosity, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has called deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis an “experienced leader” and said he will meet him soon.
Raut, who was released on bail on Wednesday in a moneylaundering case, has also welcomed Fadnavis’s statement that the bitterness in Maharashtra’s political ecosystem needs to be reduced.
A senior Sena leader said Raut was trying to send across a message that it was Fadnavis and not Eknath Shinde, who was calling the shots in the government. Moreover, the party may be trying to find a common cause with Fadnavis against Shinde on the “enemy’s enemy is our friend” principle and exploit the gradually-widening fissures between the BJP and Shinde’s Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.
Meanwhile, speaking in Nanded, Congress leader Jairam
Ramesh said the court’s observations, while granting bail to Raut, indicate that ED is not an independent organisation and is dancing to the tune of prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.