A politician, a journalist and man with a sharp tongue, Sanjay Raut over the years has mastered the art of constantly remaining in the news, targeting his political rivals with his daily dose of acerbic comments and sometimes even irking friends and allies with his outspokenness.
Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP who is considered close to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, managed to rile his own Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally with comments over the latter’s “failure” to groom a political successor.
An editorial in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Monday claimed Pawar, who resigned as NCP president last week and later rolled back his decision, has failed to create a successor who could take his party forward.
Although Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray is the Editor of 'Saamana', the 61-year-old politician-journalist runs the show at the Marathi daily in his capacity as its Executive Editor.
NCP leaders, including Pawar, picked on the critical editorial and slammed Raut, a trusted aide of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose part of a key constituent of the MVA.
In the past, the multiple-term Rajya Sabha has been critical of the Congress, another constituent of the Opposition bloc, too.
Irked by his critical comments, two senior leaders of the Congress and the NCP asked Raut, a spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT), to stop “interfering” in their parties and desist from acting like their spokesperson.
However, Raut reserves his vitriol for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has constantly targeted the national outfit, even when it was an ally of the undivided Shiv Sena. Maharashtra Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, a senior BJP leader, has dubbed him a "Congress agent".
Raut's daily morning press conferences, where he mostly attacks leaders of the BJP and the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde, sets the tone for the day's political reactions in the state.
So much so that Fadnavis, speaking at an event last month, said some people in politics are getting high at 9 in the morning and trying to wrestle, an oblique reference to the 61-year-old parliamentarian. Fadnavis, at another event, remarked that if Raut stopped his morning press conferences, the political atmosphere in the state will be less vitiating.
Editorials in Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' are extremely critical of the BJP, not even sparing its top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The Eknath Shinde-led dispensation, too, faces constant attacks after assuming office in June last year following a revolt in the undivided Shiv Sena.
At times, the Marathi daily, launched in 1988 by Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, also targets the Congress and the NCP.
On Wednesday, NCP chief Pawar snubbed Raut and said, "We do not attach any importance if someone is writing about whether we create a new leadership or not. It is their prerogative (to write), but we ignore it. We know what we are doing, and we are satisfied with it."
This was in response to the 'Saamana' editorial which claimed the 82-year-old Maratha strongman has failed to groom a successor. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal asked whether Raut wanted the NCP to quit the MVA.
Even some in the Sena (UBT) disapprove of Raut's daily press conferences and “unwanted” remarks.
“We do not like this (his remarks). We do not understand why Uddhav ji (Thackeray) is allowing this,” a Sena (UBT) legislator stated.
The legislator, who wanted to remain anonymous, pointed out that certain critical comments made by Raut pushed rebel Sena MLAs to the point of no return last year.
Shiv Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat has accused Raut of leading the MVA and the Thackeray-led Sena to doom because of his remarks.
But what makes Raut, a four-term Rajya Sabha MP, so important despite his remarks, often acerbic and off the cuff, and sometimes unparliamentarily? A lot of it stems from the confidence he enjoys of both Thackeray and senior Pawar.
Raut going to jail in 2022 in a money laundering case pertaining to alleged financial irregularities in a housing project in suburban Mumbai led to his stature rising not only in the party, but also in the MVA as the Opposition thought he was being deliberately targeted.
The Rajya Sabha MP was one of the key political players who helped form the MVA in November 2019 after saffron allies BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena parted ways. He is believed to have played a vital role in convincing Thackeray to quit the alliance with the BJP and join hands with the NCP.
He is often dubbed as "NCP's man in Sena (UBT)". In response to a question in April last year, Raut told reporters, “It is not a hidden fact that I am Sharad Pawar's man. While I have been in the Shiv Sena, my relations with Pawar are close which is why we could form this (MVA) government. The BJP is upset because of this.”
Earlier this week, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole hit out at Raut, saying he should stop "interfering in other parties' affairs".
"Sanjay Raut is not a spokesperson of the Congress. How can he raise question marks over the capability of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge? It is wrong to level false allegations against the Gandhi family," he said.
"He (Raut) should not interfere in our party's affairs," Patole added.
On April 18, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, in an apparent dig at the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, said spokespersons of other parties are behaving like spokespersons of the NCP.
“No one knows who has given them this right. You speak of the party that you represent as a spokesperson. You speak about your party mouthpiece. We are very capable of making our stand clear. There is no reason to take our brief. They can put forth their (party's) views. Our party spokespersons, leaders, at the state as well as national level are capable of elucidating the party's stand,” Ajit Pawar said without naming Raut.
His adversaries are more bitter and savage.
After facing constant attacks from Raut for campaigning in Karnataka against candidates of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti for the May 10 Assembly polls, Fadnavis on May 4 shot back, "If Raut stops functioning like a middleman of the Congress, then I will not come here...But he (Raut) is here (in Karnataka) on the instructions of the Congress to cut BJP's votes."
-With PTI Input
