RS polls: ‘Give us ED for two days, even Fadnavis and BJP will vote for Sena,’ says Sanjay Raut

After Sanjay Raut ‘names’ independent MLAs responsible for MVA defeat, BJP demands case be filed against him for violating code of conduct

Attributing Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis’ triumph in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha election to political ‘horse-trading’ and interference by Central agencies, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that if the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had control of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for just two days, then even Mr. Fadnavis and the BJP would have voted for the Sena.

The BJP led by Mr. Fadnavis had rattled the tripartite MVA (of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress) by achieving a surprise victory on the hotly-contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat in the State, which saw the BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik narrowly beating the Sena’s (MVA’s) candidate Sanjay Pawar by 41 votes to 39. With a number of independent MLAs, who were expected to side with the MVA ultimately voting for the BJP, bitter recriminations ensued after the results on June 11 which were finally declared after a high-voltage, all-night drama.

Mr. Raut ‘named’ no less than six independent MLAs as being responsible for the defeat of the Sena’s candidate Sanjay Pawar, while accusing the BJP at the Centre and the State of misusing Central agencies to change the outcome of the results.

“There is no question of our [the Sena] insulting any independent MLA. We have merely expressed our feelings… Even the independents and the BJP are aware of what we are trying to say. If the reins of the ED were given in our [MVA’s] hands for two days, even Devendra Fadnavis will vote for the Shiv Sena,” said Mr. Raut, speaking in Mumbai.

Remarking that the MVA was aware of everything that the Maharashtra BJP leaders were doing “in the middle of the night”, the newly-re-elected Sena MP said: “We know how they [the Maharashtra BJP] were calling the Union Home Department and how the Home Department’s phones were going to the Central Election Commission…we know how they [the BJP] were planning to make votes of MVA leaders to be ‘invalided’.”

Mr. Raut’s remarks against independents has sparked strong resentment among the MLAs, who are expected to queer the pitch for the MVA in the upcoming polls to the Maharashtra Legislative Council on June 20, where the Opposition BJP is said to have a clear edge.

Responding to Mr. Raut, the BJP and the MNS tartly remarked how it was possible that despite the Sena’s claims of Uddhav Thackeray being one of the most popular Chief Ministers in the country, the MVA government’s own MLAs were disgruntled with the Thackeray government.