Sanjay Raut says Sharad Pawar will not go with NDA, hits out at Fadnavis over Gokul and Somaiya

Senior leader Sharad Pawar is undergoing treatment in hospital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned him to ask after his health. Modi advised Pawar to rest and said that Supriya Sule and he would look after the country. Soon afterwards, Nationalist leader Praful Patel met Pawar and enquired about his health. The two leaders spoke for an hour and a half.

The meeting has set off all manner of rumours in political circles, and talk of Pawar going with the NDA has picked up again. Responding to the media in one sentence, Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut said Sharad Pawar will not go anywhere and will stay with them.

Raut said: "Sharad Pawar will not go anywhere. I say this with certainty. Let Praful Patel say what he wants to say. Pawar will not go anywhere. He will stay with us. He has led a progressive Maharashtra. If anyone is boasting otherwise, it is a lie. He will stay with us and keep blessing us."

The Enforcement Directorate has given a clean chit to Nationalist leader Hasan Mushrif. Reacting to this, Raut said Kirit Somaiya should now jump off the Atal Setu. According to him, Fadnavis has silenced Somaiya. Somaiya should go on a hunger strike at Hasan Mushrif's door and at the ED's door. Raut said all those against whom the ED filed cases and agitations were held have gone over to the BJP, and the BJP has given them clean chits. He said Somaiya now has only one task left: to go to the doors of these leaders and sit on a hunger strike.

Raut said he had seen Somaiya's picture, that his face had turned dark and his teeth had fallen out. He said the BJP should now put up Hasan Mushrif's picture and pin a medal in Hasan Mushrif's name on Somaiya's chest.

Raut also criticised the government over the Gokul issue. He said a quorum of 14 is needed for the Gokul meeting, but the people have given their verdict. So that the quorum would not be met, he said, Fadnavis has taken away two seats from a like-minded panel. Results were reversed at the last moment by five or six votes. He asked whether this decision would have been taken if Mahadik's panel had won 13 seats and Satej Patil 12. Would Fadnavis have decided to appoint five members then? Then Fadnavis would have said there was a majority. Raut said: you have lost, your panel has lost, the people have defeated you, and yet you are taking them in as government members; what way is this? He said Fadnavis should not let his image be tarnished further. His image has already been badly tarnished, and he should not blacken it so much that people cannot recognise him.

Raut said that if the government cares for democracy and public opinion, the Governor will not sign that ordinance. According to him, the present rulers have rejected the verdict of the people without any concern for shame or decency. That is why, he said, "we say democracy is in danger". He said he had not imagined Fadnavis would stoop so low. Chandrakant Patil's position is understandable, but Fadnavis claims that his father took part in the struggle against the Emergency. Raut said he has now begun to doubt even that. If Gangadhar Fadnavis was fighting for democracy and freedom, his son Fadnavis cannot trample the verdict given by democracy. According to Raut, this would be an insult to his father's struggle and sacrifice.