Raut Slams Selection of NCP MLC, Claims He Opposed ‘Vande Mataram’ Song
Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has targeted the BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis over the swearing in of Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Idris Naikwadi as the member of Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) from Governor’s quota in Maharashtra. The one who has opposed Vande Mataram has been nominated by the ruling Mahayuti alliance, said Raut.
Naikwadi is a minority face of the NCP from western Maharashtra and also a former mayor of Sangli, Miraj and Kupwad City Municipal Corporation.
Slamming the decision to nominate Naikwadi as a MLC, Raut said, “What is Naikwadi’s history? He had opposed Vande Mataram in Sangli Municipal Corporation. You appoint a person who opposes Vande Mataram as an MLC from the governor’s quota! It was the same Indris Nayakwadi who attacked the office of a Hindutva organization.”
“The Mahayuti government has made a person MLC who opposed Vande Mataram. Where is Devendra Fadnavis who speaks the language of Hindutva? They are all hypocrites. We want to inform Maharashtra that they have no right to blow the trumpet of Hindutva and patriotism,” said Raut.
According to political observers, NCP chief Ajit Pawar has been trying to maintain his image as a secular leader and has disapproved of the aggressive tone of some BJP leaders against Muslims.
He has asserted that his party is secular and follows the ideology of social reformers Dr B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.
Ahead of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha polls, the ruling Mahayuti on Monday nominated seven members for the MLC posts. The state cabinet cleared seven out of 12 names and received approval from Governor C P Radhakrishnan.
Of the seven new members of the legislative council who took oath on Tuesday, the BJP has nominated three, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's NCP have two members each.
The newly sworn in MLCs are BJP’s Chitra Wagh, Vikrant Patil and spiritual leader of Banjara community Dharmaguru Babusingh Maharaj Rathod, NCP leaders Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi and Shiv Sena’s Manisha Kayande and Hemant Patil.