Sanjay Raut became the vocal critic of saffron party

Ever since the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre, the high-profile journalist-politician, Sanjay Raut, who is part of Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray’s inner circle, has become one of the most vocal critics of the national saffron party.

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance used to be one of the best examples of alliances cemented by late Balasaheb Thackeray and BJP leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Pramod Mahajan and they stayed together for 25 to 30 years.

Even when the Shiv Sena was in the BJP-led NDA, Raut chose to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his closest aide, then BJP President and now Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

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In his brief media interactions and editorials in ‘Saamana' and 'Dophar ka Saamana’, Raut constantly targeted the BJP.

In 2019, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power in Maharashtra and Uddhav became the Chief Minister, it was Raut who defended him from the attacks of the BJP.

Raut became a sort of a political target for the BJP.

But, Raut is a known fighter - and he himself had said, many times: “…seize my properties….or shoot me, or send me to jail, I am Balasaheb’s follower and a Shiv Sainik….I will fight it out and expose everyone…I am not scared…”.

The 61-year old Raut, the blue-eyed boy of the Thackeray-family worked with the three generations - Balasaheb, Uddhav and now Aaditya.

Whenever Shiv Sena is in a crisis, the first call often goes to the workaholic Raut.

When the MVA experiment was taking shape as an opposition to the BJP, Raut was the bridge between Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and a “Sanjay” to both of them - akin to that of Mahabharata.

That’s how, on 24 October, 2019, the day votes were counted for the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls, he said clearly - “the next chief minister would be a Shiv Sainik” - and when on 28 November, 2019, when Uddhav, an ace photographer, took over the top job, his prophecy came to be true.

Raut was born on 15 November, 1961 in the coastal town of Alibaug in Raigad district.

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As far as his work-profile is concerned, he started off working with the circulation and marketing department of a media house before working for a news magazine in the eighties - where he wrote on crime and politics. Known for his reporting skills, contacts and hard work - he carved a niche for himself.

The weekly Marmik founded by Balasaheb was instrumental in establishing Raut’s contacts with the family including his brother late Shrikant Thackeray, the father of Raj Thackeray, now the president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

In 1989, Balasaheb launched the Marathi broadsheet daily, Saamana, which served as the mouthpiece of Shiv Sena. While Thackeray was the founding editor, veteran journalist Ashok Padbidri as its executive editor. In 1992, Raut replaced Padbidri in the top job. In 1993, they also launched the Hindi tabloid version Dophar ka Saamana.

In 2004, he was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha membership - and he catapulted into the national scene and now he is into the fourth term.