Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil attacked Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut who is the executive editor of ‘Saamana’. Patil asked whether Raut has quit as Shiv Sena spokesperson and taken up the same position in the Congress.
In a letter, the senior BJP leader accused Raut of dividing his loyalties between Matoshree (Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s residence) and Silver Oak (Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar’s residence).
Patil remarks came after Shiv Sena attacked him over his criticism against Maharashtra Congress President Balasaheb Thorat. Patil had taken a jibe at the Congress leadership in Maharashtra saying that he has never seen such a helpless state unit chief while adding that Congress is in power but the party and its ministers were being neglected in the decision-making process.
Jumping in to defend Thorat, Shiv Sena said that Patil’s criticism for Thorat is out of desperation for not being in power. In an editorial published in ‘Saamana’, Sena said that the former Congress minister was criticising Thorat because despite joining BJP ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections last year for power, he had to remain in the opposition.
Reacting to this, Patil said that he was happy in BJP and took a dig at Raut for not being able to get a ministerial post for his brother in the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. “Despite projecting yourself as the architect of the MVA, you couldn’t get a ministerial post for your own brother,” Patil asserted.
“One can’t help but feel amused when leaders like Patil label Thorat as helpless,” the Sena said in the editorial while accusing Patil of not being loyal to any party he joined. “He enjoyed power being in Sena but quit it to join Congress. He left Congress while being the leader of the opposition,” Shiv Sena pointed out.
Vikhe Patil retorted to these claims and said his commitment is to the people and doesn’t shift between Silver Oak and Matoshree. “We may have changed parties but our loyalty remains to the leadership of the party that we represent,” he said.
Patil further said that even Thorat - revenue minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government - had thought of joining BJP a few years ago.
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