Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live

Raut at Matoshree praises Fadnavis

- Dhaval Kulkarni

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.

 ?? VIJAY BATE/HT PHOTO ?? Sanjay Raut with Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya at Matoshree on Thursday.
VIJAY BATE/HT PHOTO Sanjay Raut with Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya at Matoshree on Thursday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India