Shiv Sena was and will always be Hindutva party, says Sanjay Raut

"The question of political ideology should be asked to BJP when they formed govt with Mehbooba Mufti in Kashmir," said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.

New Delhi: "Shiv Sena was a Hindutva party and will always remain the same," said Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday (March 22). Addressing the media in Maharashtra's Nagpur, Raut questioned the political ideology of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and said, "The question of political ideology should be asked to BJP when they formed govt with Mehbooba Mufti in Kashmir, where did their political ideology go? I've many such questions."

Addressing a press conference in Nagpur during Shiv Sena's mass outreach programme in the Vidarbha region, Raut also slammed BJP for terming the Uddhav Thackeray-led party "Janab Sena".

Responding to a query, Raut said asking the then-home minister Anil Deshmukh to resign was a mistake of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government which will not be repeated in the case of Nawab Malik.

"Nawab Malik will never be asked to resign from the state cabinet," he said. Deshmukh had stepped down last year following allegations of corruption levelled against him by the then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Malik was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

Both Deshmukh and Malik belong to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), one of the three constituents in the MVA government; the two other ruling parties are Shiv Sena and Congress. He reiterated that the BJP was misusing Central agencies to malign the image of the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.