Following the in-person interaction between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday, 10 June, said that PM Modi is the top leader of the country and the BJP.
His statement came as a response to a question on Modi’s popularity, which is speculated to be on the decline, as RSS reportedly looks to put state leaders at the helm of state election campaigns.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, Raut said, “I don’t want to comment on this... I don’t go by the media reports. There is no official statement about this. The BJP owes its success to Narendra Modi in the last seven years and currently he is the top leader of the country and his party,” PTI quoted.
He added that his party’s view has always been that a prime minister belongs to the entire country and not a specific party, saying that “Hence the PM shouldn’t get involved in election campaigning as it puts pressure on the official machinery,” PTI reported.
Responding to a question on Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil’s comments that his party would show allyship with the tiger – Shiv Sena’s symbol – if Modi wanted it, Raut remarked, “No one can make friendship with a tiger. It is the tiger that decides whom it wants to be friends with.”
The Rajya Sabha member is presently visiting Maharashtra and “holding meetings in a bid to strengthen party coordination among each other.”
“All Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies have a right to expand their base and strengthen the parties. It is also the need of the hour,” he said, as per PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
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