"Is it a crime to meet him?" Sanjay Raut on meeting Devendra Fadnavis

In a major development, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday met former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at a five-star hotel in Mumbai. The meeting between the two leaders sparked huge speculations in the political circle. 

The meeting comes after the Election Commission announced election dates for assembly elections in Bihar and amid the tussle between BJP and Shiv Sena which has been going on for months over the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

Raut, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Executive Editor of ‘Saamana’, said that it was not a crime to meet leaders from other parties. He clarified that he plans to interview Fadnavis and he had announced the same when he took Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s interview. 

“Devendra Fadnavis is a former Chief Minister and now the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Is it a crime to meet him?” Raut asked saying that he had announced earlier that he planned to interview Fadnavis, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

The meeting between the two leaders has raised speculations that Shiv Sena and BJP might form an alliance in future. Earlier, the BJP has said that they will be ready to form an alliance with the Shiv Sena in future.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Pravin Darekar refuted speculations saying that no political motives should be drawn from the meeting. He revealed that Raut had expressed his desire to interview Fadnavis for ‘Saamana’ ahead of the Bihar assembly elections which are scheduled to be held next month. 

“A few days ago, Sanjay Raut had expressed his desire to interview Devendra Fadnavis for Saamana. Devendra Fadnavis had expressed the view that this interview should be unedited. The two met to decide the format of the interview. After the Bihar elections, Devendra Fadnavis will give time to Sanjay Raut for an interview. There is no political context behind the meeting,” Darekar said. 

This was the first meeting between Raut and Fadnavis after their parties broke alliance in Maharashtra in 2019 over the power-sharing issue and it lasted for about two hours.