A UNIFIED OPPOSITION NEEDS THE CONGRESS; PAWAR CAN BE THE LEADER

INTERVIEW SANJAY RAUT Shiv Sena MP

- DNYANESH JATHAR

SANJAY RAUT, Rajya Sabha member and editor of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, is known for being blunt. He minces no words while attacking the BJP, especially its leaders in Maharashtra.

Raut is one of the architects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, a coalition of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress that has been in power in Maharashtra since 2019. A close confidant of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Raut recently came under the Enforcement Directorate’s scanner. The ED has attached his properties, including the flat where he lives in Mumbai. Not one to feel afraid, Raut continues to take on the BJP.

When not busy with politics, Raut can be found at the office of Saamana, writing editorials and going through pages as they are being made. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he spoke on a variety of issues, including the allegations against him and Thackeray. Excerpts:

Q/ The MVA government is completing two and a half years. The BJP keeps saying that the government will collapse because of internal clashes, but nothing of that sort has happened. Who should be given credit for forming this unlikely alliance?

A/ The credit goes to BJP leaders in Maharashtra, and their ego and arrogance. [BJP president] Amit Shah and Uddhav Thackeray had decided [before the 2019 assembly polls] that theirs will be an equal distribution of power. But during seat-sharing talks, Sena got fewer seats than it deserved. Then there were efforts to defeat Sena candidates in various constituencies. Despite that, we won 56 seats. The BJP leaders’ attitude was, ‘We will manage them (the Sena) easily; they will have to bow to our wishes; where will they go?’