Sanjay Raut claims Raj Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi are in direct talks

Thackeray faction MP Sanjay Raut has claimed that direct talks are under way between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Raut made the remark while speaking to the media this morning. Following the claim, the possibility of new political equations forming in the country is being suggested.

The claim comes at a time when voices of protest are rising across the country against the Central government and the Chief Election Commissioner. Demands for the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar are growing, and opposition parties across the country appear to be uniting against the Election Commission.

Raut said, "There is a dialogue going on between Raj Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi. Why should such a dialogue not take place among the key leaders of all opposition parties?" He also said that today's agitation is part of the movement started by Rahul Gandhi. According to Raut, former chief minister Mamata Banerjee is also now coming to the meeting, and talks are being held with her as well.

Raut said the agenda of today's meeting is against the misconduct of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Asked about Sharad Pawar going over to the NDA, Raut said Pawar has made it clear: "We will not go anywhere. Those who want to come, let them come with us." According to Raut, Pawar will therefore not go anywhere. He said Sharad Pawar is a key leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the INDIA bloc, and the original Nationalist Congress Party led by him will not go anywhere.

On Pawar's meetings with BJP leaders, Raut said political leaders keep meeting one another for the cooperative sector, banking or even family matters, and it is wrong to bring politics into them. He stressed that Sharad Pawar's original party will stay firmly with the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the opposition alliance with full strength.

On the drought situation in the state, Raut said that instead of taking loans, commissions were collected by giving contracts worth Rs 500 crore each to Cabinet ministers and other ministers. He said the government asks the public to cut spending, whereas it should cut its own. He asked why chartered planes are repeatedly used to travel to Delhi and why legislators and MPs are being bought for Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore. According to Raut, it would be easier to cut this spending and give the money to drought victims. He said celebrating festivals on borrowed money amounts to looting the treasury. He also said that men were given the benefit of the Ladki Bahin scheme, and spending there should be cut.

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visits to Baramati, Raut said, "Modiji keeps coming and going to Baramati; that is his travel company, and he keeps distributing free tickets." He said the parties of Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde are not their own but Home Minister Amit Shah's parties. According to Raut, Shah should hold a introspection meeting on what the future of these parties will be when he is no longer in Delhi politics. Raut also said that Narendra Modi himself will eventually sink all these parties.