Raut claims Fadnavis, Shah worked against Gadkari in LS polls – Read

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis worked for Nitin Gadkari’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Raut’s claim has drawn sharp reactions from the BJP and Congress’s candidate from Nagpur. Raut alleged that Fadnavis had unwillingly campaigned for Gadkari, who contested from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, when he realised the Union minister couldn’t be defeated. Nagpur is the hometown of both BJP leaders. “Modi, Shah and Fadnavis worked for Gadkari’s defeat in Nagpur. Fadnavis unwillingly joined the campaign for Gadkari when he realised he couldn’t be defeated. The RSS people in Nagpur are openly saying Fadnavis helped the opposition to get Gadkari defeated,” he wrote in an article in his party’s mouthpiece “Saamna”. State BJP chief Chandrasekhar Bawankule said Raut had become “delusional”. “The BJP is not a party but a family. People who have always played politics of factionalism will never understand family bonds. Modi, Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Gadkari and Fadnavis are part of the BJP’s family. We always work on the principle of nation first, then party and last self,” he said.