'BJP doesn't only intend to divide Shiv Sena but finish the party altogether': Sanjay Raut

The BJP does not only intend to engineer a split in the Shiv Sena but altogether finish the party to realise its dream of "breaking" Maharashtra into three parts, said Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday. He also dubbed the newly-installed Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government as "illegal".

"The BJP does not want to engineer a split in the Shiv Sena, but it wants to finish the party. Till the time Shiv Sena exists, they cannot realize their dream of breaking Maharashtra into three pieces. They cannot free Mumbai (from Maharashtra till the time Sena exists)," he asserted. 

Speaking to reporters in Nashik, Raut hit out at the rebel Sena MLAs and said they may have returned home, but Shiv Sainiks will ensure they do not get re-elected to the Legislative Assembly whenever polls are held.

The MLAs supporting then state minister Eknath Shinde first reached Surat from Mumbai on June 21, then flew to Guwahati and also stayed in Goa before returning to the state capital.

'MLAs keep changing reasons for revolt': Raut

Shiv Sena's chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the rebel MLAs have been changing the reasons for revolting against the party leadership - which ultimately brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government late last month.

Slamming the rebel MLAs, Raut said, "They keep changing the reasons for rebelling against the party leadership -- from accusing us of deserting the Hindutva plank, to then-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's inaccessibility, to the NCP (which handled finance portfolio under MVA government) not allocating funds to their constituencies."

The Sena MP said the new government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who took oath on June 30, was "illegal", while asking "At a time when the disqualification plea of 16 MLAs is pending before the Supreme Court, how can the Governor order a trust vote?" The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government won the trust vote in the Assembly on July 4.

(With inputs from agency)