Sena's Raut hits out at Fadnavis for Saamana comment

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for claiming the party mouthpiece 'Saamana', of which the former is executive editor, was trying to derail talks on the formation of the next government.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Fadnavis expressed resentment over editorials in 'Saamana' against the BJP.

"The paper's role is to derail the talks. Will the paper take a hard stand on the Congress-NCP?" the CM had asked.

Hitting back, Raut said, "Saamana wrote against the Congress-NCP and that is why the BJP-led govt came to power in 2014. I am putting forth the Shiv Sena's stand," Raut said.

He added, "My party is not asking for anything wrong. Only implementation of what was decided before the elections (equal power-sharing formula). There is no need for Fadnavis to bare his fangs while making such statements."

Raut also criticised Fadnavis for the latter's remarks on chief ministership.

On who will be the chief minister, Fadnavis had said, "You have any doubt? It has already been decided. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already announced the name and now it is a mere formality."

Raut went on to state that "nobody can stop a party from forming a government if it has a majority."

"If (BJP leaders) Eknath Khadse, Chandrakant Patil, (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, or even me, claim we have the support of 145 MLAs (in the 288-member House), they will become Chief Minister," Raut said.

The Sena leader reminded the BJP that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre was defeated in Parliament in 1999 by one vote.

"One number is very important," he said.

Breaking his silence on Sena's continuous posturing over the sharing of power in the future government, Fadnavis said the BJP never promised the Sena to grant the post of the CM on a rotational basis as part of the "formula" for sharing the power.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has been insisting that the 50:50 formula on sharing of power was "agreed upon" between himself, BJP chief Amit Shah and Fadnavis ahead of the Lok Sabha polls this year.