"Top Leader Of Country, Party": Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut On PM Modi

Sanjay Raut also made a pointed reference to PM Modi on the campaign trail, suggesting he "shouldn't get involved" as he "belongs to the entire country"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the "top leader of the country and his party (the BJP)", Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Thursday, two days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met the Prime Minister in Delhi to discuss Cyclone Tauktae relief ops and the Maratha quota issue. The ringing endorsement from Mr Raut - whose party allied with then-rivals Congress and the NCP to come to power in the state after a bitter split from long-time ally BJP - was in response to speculation the RSS - the BJP's ideological mentor - may project local leaders for future state polls. "I don't want to comment on this... I don't go by the media reports. There is no official statement about this... The BJP owes its success to Narendra Modi in the last seven years and currently he is the top leader of the country and his party," Mr Raut was quoted by news agency PTI. The BJP - which won the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls by piggybacking on the PM's image - has suffered setbacks in state polls, the most recent of which were in Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.