The Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray has yet again appointed party MP Sanjay Raut as Chief Spokesman. This is despite his recent statements on Sharad Pawar to be made UPA Chairman and Anil Deshmukh as an accidental Home Minister had created tension among the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi partners.
However, Raut has been at the forefront to argue Shiv Sena’s viewpoint and also the MVA while strongly taking on BJP. That has been his plus points which came in handy for Thackeray to retain him as the Chief Spokesman. Thackeray has also appointed party MP Arvind Sawant as the Chief Spokesman. However, the party has dropped the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe from the list of spoke persons.
Raut recently hogged the headlines for making a strong case for Pawar to be appointed as the UPA Chairperson replacing Sonia Gandhi who is unwell. Raut argued that several parties which are not in NDA or UPA will join UPA if Pawar heads it to take on BJP. Shiv Sena MP was slammed by Congress saying that Shiv Sena is not yet a member of UPA and therefore he should stop making such statements.
State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat had asked Raut should be careful before making any comments. On the other hand, state party chief Nana Patole asked Raut whether he was Pawar’s spokesman.
Thereafter, amid BJP’s attacks against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on corruption, bomb scare, Mansukh Hiran death case, Sachin Vaze’s role and police transfer racket, Raut asserted in his weekly column that Anil Deshmukh is an accidental home minister after NCP veterans Dilip Walse Patil and Jayant Patil refused to take the department. However, NCP slammed Raut saying that it was the party's decision to appoint Deshmukh home minister.
However, Raut continued to target BJP and leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis who continued to fire salvos against the state government. Raut acted as a one-man squad to take on the opposition countering their charges made especially against Thackeray and Shiv Sena in particular and also against the MVA government in general.
The list of party spokespersons included Transport Minister Anil Parab, Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi, deputy leader Sachin Ahir, legislators Bhaskar Jadhav, Pratap Sarnaik, Sunil Prabhu, Ambadas Danve, Manisha Kayande, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar among others.
