'Was it part of Operation Lotus?' Sanjay Raut on Ajit Pawar's plane crash

Mumbai: Intensifying attack on the BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that the Baramati plane crash involving Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar was not a mere technical snag and wondered whether it was part of Operation Lotus.

Raut, a close aide of former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, demanded a judicial probe into the Baramati air crash rather than the ongoing probe by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

According to Raut, the relations between BJP and NCP, which is part of the Maha Yuti-BJP alliance, was at its best.

“People are asking if this (plane crash) was part of Operation Lotus,” Raut told reporters in New Delhi, where a day ago he raised the issue in the Parliament.

“Ajit Pawar has openly commented on BJP’s corruption in Pune (during the campaign of municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad)…as he was state's finance minister for many years, Ajit Pawar had kept important documents related to the BJP's financial misconduct with himself,” he said.

The BJP, however, slammed Raut.

"Raut should resign as Rajya Sabha MP and start writing scripts for OTT platforms," said BJP spokesperson and Mumbai corporator Navnath Ban.