india

Updated: Nov 05, 2019 01:28 IST

After an unrelenting attack by the Shiv Sena on its alliance partner BJP over government formation in Maharashtra, a Marathi newspaper considered close to the RSS on Monday launched a scathing assault on the Sena and its leader and Saamana editor Sanjay Raut for fuelling political uncertainty.

In an editorial, Marathi daily Tarun Bharat said people of the state would not pardon the Shiv Sena and its leadership if the BJP-led alliance fails to form the government. It also lashed out at Raut for his claim that the Sena could form a government with the help of non-BJP parties.

“The mandate of the people was for BJP-Sena alliance and the BJP emerged as the ‘big brother’ winning 105 seats while the Sena was reduced to 56 seats,” it pointed out and asked how the Sena could claim the post of chief minister with these numbers.

The RSS mouthpiece criticised the Raut’s claim that the BJP managed to win 105 seats because it contested the elections in alliance with the Sena otherwise the BJP would not have won more than 70 seats.

“Had that been the case and the BJP had contested without any alliance, Sena would have been reduced to not more than 20 seats,” it countered saying the Shiv Sena should respect the mandate of the people.

The editorial flayed Raut’s style of functioning and said the Sena leader was busy writing articles and giving interviews to TV channels to create confusion.

It also accused Raut of continuously making irresponsible statements against BJP and equated him with Betaal (a fictional character during the period of Vikramaditya) while Uddhav as Vikram. It also described Raut as a ‘joker’. Taking a dig at Raut, it said an ‘intelligent’ Sena leader wakes up each morning and tweets Hindi poems and gets busy planting fake news. The ‘intelligent’ leader must understand the fact that it is easy to post tweets but very tough to administer a state like Maharashtra.

The editorial said it was unfortunate that the Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray fought against Congress and its allies all his life while Raut is now hobnobbing with the same Congress and NCP due to his lust for power. It advised Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to control Raut and ensure a stable government led by its principal partner, the BJP.

The newspaper added that around 60 per cent farmers of Maharashtra are bearing the brunt of natural calamity but the Sena is least bothered about the welfare of the farmers and the party is only focussed on grabbing power. It remarked that the people of Maharashtra will never forgive Sena for ignoring the plight of farmers and common people in their quest for power.

Talking to HT, the editor-in-chief of Tarun Bharat, Gajanan Nimdeo said the Sena should cooperate to form BJP-led government in view of the ground reality. “Is Raut authorised by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to make such statements that harm the alliance and only benefit the opposition,” he asked.

Nimdeo said Thackeray should clarify whether Raut’s opinion is his personal or that of his party’s because at the moment it seems that Raut has hijacked the Sena and the party is toeing his line of politics.