Raut said, “Who broke political parties and families (in Maharashtra)? Modi and Shah engineered splits in political parties and even in families. They (CM Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar) fell prey to it. They should admit they were threatened, pressured, or lured to defect from their parties.”Be it the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar’s NCP, both parties gave ample opportunities to Shinde and Ajit Pawar for many years, but they chose to defect, claimed the Rajya Sabha MP.He criticised Shah over Manipur, accusing him of neglecting the northeastern state and his Mumbai visit.”Despite the fresh attacks in Manipur and the continued suffering of women, the union home minister is here in Mumbai. He (Shah) should go to Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir. What business does he have in Mumbai? He should show courage to visit Manipur,” the Sena (UBT) leader said.At least seven people have been killed and more than 15 injured in incidents of violence in Manipur in the last five days.Referring to Shah’s visit to Lalbaugcha Raja, Raut said, “We need to take care as they might relocate Lalbaughcha Raja to Gujarat as they did with the major industrial projects, institutions, and organisations… Is it their plan to weaken Maharashtra and support those who plunder the state? This is not the work of the home minister, but he does it.”BJP’s Mumbai chief and MLA Ashish Shelar responded to Raut’s jibes.Shelar said Thackeray as the then CM broke the age-old tradition of public celebration of the Ganesh festival during the COVID-19 outbreak.”You were the one to separate Ganesha devotees from their beloved Bappa. Hence, Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut must apologise to Lalbaugcha Raja and all Ganesh devotees,” he said.Asking Raut to stop “publicly exhibiting his ignorance,” the BJP leader said he had crossed all limits of decency by criticising Shah, who has been visiting Mumbai to seek the blessings of Lalbaughcha Raja even when he was not a Union minister.Shah was not even the BJP president when he would travel to Mumbai to seek Bappa’s darshan, said Shelar, calling Raut’s “relocation of Lalbaucha Raja” comment ridiculous.”Raut seems to have forgotten that during the tenure of Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister, the over 125-year-old tradition of ‘Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav’ was broken,” he said.Devotees were not allowed to take the darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja, said the BJP leader.”Today, you might have forgotten that it was Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and your Sena that had plotted to stop Ganesh mandals from celebrating this festival forever. People of Maharashtra are still angry and have not forgotten it,” he said.Shelar also slammed Raut over his comments against Fadnavis.”It is you who is interested in knowing what is going on in one’s head. It is not our habit. The works done by Devendraji as an activist, a volunteer and a leader are immense, and they will lead Maharashtra on the path to progress in the years to come,” said Shelar.Nobody in the BJP is interested in knowing what is going on in someone’s head, Shelar said, “It is your habit to peep into others’ homes to know what’s cooking there.”
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