Uddhav’s show of support for Sanjay Raut
Mumbai: Shiv Sena head and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Sanjay Raut’s residence on Monday in a strident expression of his support for his party spokesperson, even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) produced Raut before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court which granted the agency custody till August 4
Mumbai: Shiv Sena head and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray visited Rajya Sabha parliamentarian Sanjay Raut’s residence on Monday in a strident expression of his support for his party spokesperson, even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) produced Raut before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court which granted the agency custody till August 4.
Thackeray visited Raut’s residence in suburban Bhandup and spent 30 minutes meeting Raut’s 84-year-old mother Savita, wife Varsha, daughters, Purvashi and Vidisha, and Raut’s brother and party legislator from Vikhroli, Sunil. Later, addressing a press conference, he said that Raut was “the real Shiv Sainik of Balasaheb” and that he was “proud” of Raut.
“I am proud of Sanjay. He said he would die but not surrender. He is the real Shiv Sainik of Balasaheb (the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray),” Thackeray said. “A Shiv Sainik is fearless and speaks what he does not approve of,” Thackeray said.
The ED had arrested Raut in the intervening night of July 31-August 1 after raiding his residence on Sunday. It told the special court on Monday that Raut and his family had received ₹1.06 crore from Pravin Raut, an accused in the HDIL money-laundering case, which was part of a kick-back for their alleged attempt to siphon money from the redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon.
The PMLA court rejected the ED’s plea for eight days of custody remand, observing that such a long remand was not necessary to probe the money trail linked to Raut’s wife Varsha, which could easily be done through bank statements.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — which returned to power in the state last month after allying with Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde — Thackeray said that BJP president JP Nadda’s comments that family-run parties will perish clearly showed that the ruling party at the Centre was trying to finish off regional parties.
“This (Nadda’s statement) is very dangerous and serious. His comments indicate taking the country towards dictatorship and autocracy. The politics today is distressing,” Thackeray said.
Referring to Raut as his “old friend,” Thackeray said that Raut’s arrest showed that leader did not succumb to the BJP which was using brute force to crush its opponents. “Today, you have the power, and if you are going to use it to crush others, remember that times change.”
“The politics that is happening today is very cruel and repulsive,” he said and added that the BJP’s “vendetta” politics aimed to create “slaves” out of leaders.
Thackeray was accompanied by his close aide and party secretary Milind Narvekar, Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant and MLA Ravindra Waikar during his visit to the Raut residence.
“People need to take note of where these people are taking India,” Thackeray said.
“Hitler-type politics has been unleased. Those who don’t surrender are being framed. If you want to finish other parties, go before the people. You want to crush the regional identities,” he said.
BJP leader and former minister Ashish Shelar said, “The action against Raut cannot be said to emerge from vindictive politics. It’s an action against the person who was responsible for destroying the dream of 672 Marathi families living in Patra chawl. It’s a scam of ₹1,039 crore committed by illegally transferring the plot to unauthorised entity. Raut was deeply involved in these illegal transactions. Of them ₹1.60 lakh were transferred in Raut and his wife’s account. Uddhav Thackeray should speak on Raut’s involvement in this case.”
“Naddaji did speak about the dynasty in politics and parties run by families. It has been our party ‘s stand for years as it hurts the interest of the general party workers. We are not against the regional parties nor do we want to finish them,” said state BJP vice president Madhav Bhandari.