Sanjay Raut justifies 2-hour meet with BJP's Fadnavis; says 'Sena forced to leave NDA'

After meeting the Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis at a luxury hotel in Mumbai, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday issued his first statement with regards to the 2-hour meeting between the former allies. Raut clarified that the meeting was fixed earlier with the opposition leader for an interview for 'Saamana'. The Shiv Sena leader further maintained that the political dimension in the state will not change as the parties in Maharashtra have 'better coordination' among them compared to northern states.

"The political dimension in the state not going to change. We have better coordination. We spoke yesterday and Fadnavis is a former CM. As of now, he is the leader of opposition and in-charge of Bihar. The meeting was fixed days before. Wanted to interview him for Saamana interview", Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told news agency ANI.

'Uddhav knows about the meeting'

Raut agreed to the fact that Shiv Sena and BJP have ideological differences however he said that the two parties are not enemies. He also went on to say that Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was aware of the meeting with BJP leader.

"We are not enemies and there may be ideological conflict but not personal. The meeting was in open forum. Even Uddhav knows about the meeting"...."When we were with BJP, I met Sharad Pawar. This is not like the politics of north India", he added.

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'Shiv Sena was forced to leave NDA'

Reacting to the exit of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from its alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Raut said Shiv Sena and SAD were strong pillars of NDA. He further revealed that Sena was forced to leave NDA.

"Strong pillars of NDA were Sena and SAD. Sena was forced to leave NDA. Where Sena and SAD are not there, I don't consider this alliance as NDA. In ups and downs, both of us were there with BJP and without us, this is a new alliance and not the old one", Raut said.

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SAD quits NDA after core committee meet

The SAD, one of the oldest allies of the BJP, quit the NDA alliance on Saturday after a three-hour-long core committee meeting on Saturday and a unanimous consensus to pull out of the coalition. Harsimrat Kaur had resigned from the post of the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries after the farm bills were passed in Lok Sabha. The party leadership had stated that it would decide upon the fate of the alliance after the outcome of Rajya Sabha session on the farm bills. However, the bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha too with a voice vote amid the chaos that witnessed 8 Opposition MPs being suspended for a week, on September 20.

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READ | Ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis holds 2-hour meet with Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut; BJP explains why