Raut is NCP's 'blue-eyed boy' trying to finish off Sena, accuses rebel MLA

Calling Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut the "blue-eyed boy" of NCP, Sawantwadi MLA Deepak Kesarkar, who is part of Eknath Shinde's breakaway group, on Monday said when the Shiv Sena-BJP government formation in the state was a mere formality in 2019, he became "active" with the blessings of a "strong NCP leader" and that he is bent on destroying the saffron party.

- Chittaranjan Tembhekar

Mumbai: In an open letter, 'Safeguarding Hindutva: not a rebellion; but a fight for Shiv Sena's self-respect', Kesarkar said: "You may succeed in distancing Shiv Sena from BJP.

But if you're trying to distance Shiv Sena from Hindutva - how do you expect us to tolerate it?" He accused Raut directly of "distancing Uddhavji from us. NCP fires the gun from Sanjay Raut's shoulder and who does the bullet hit? Not enemies of our party but loyalists like us. This is not acceptable to us".

The letter again called for Sena to return to an alliance with BJP.