Shiv Sena first party in country to fight poll on Hindutva plank: Sanjay Raut

Firing a fresh salvo at the BJP which had accused the Shiv Sena of paying only lip service to the cause of Hindutva party MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that the Sena was the first party in the country to contest an election on the Hindutva plankTalking to reporters Raut referred to a bypoll held for the Vile Parle Assembly seat in Mumbai saying Shiv Sena candidate Ramesh Prabhu had contested on the agenda of HindutvaIt was for the first time that Hindutva was mentioned in electoral politics in the country Raut said adding that Congress and BJP were also in the fray in that byelectionPrabhu had won the Vile Parle Assembly segment in the byelection held in 198788 and retained the seat in the 1990 pollsIt is after this victory that the BJP approached Shiv Sena for an alliance on Hindutva which Balasaheb Thackeray agreed to as he didnt want a division of Hindu votes Contemporary BJP leaders are unaware of this history Raut said in a veiled dig at Opposition Leader Devendra FadnavisRauts comments come amid a war of words between the Shiv Sena and BJP which erupted after Sena president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday accused his former ally of practising hollow Hindutva for powerHitting back at the Shiv Sena Fadnavis on Monday said the Senas Hindutva is merely on paper and finds mention just in speeches while it was his party men who faced bullets and lathis during the Ram Janmabhoomi movementRaut alleged that the BJP has neglected family members of its stalwarts like late Pramod Mahajan Gopinath Munde and Manohar Parrikar who helped build that party in Maharashtra and GoaRecently Parrikars son Utpal quit BJP and announced to contest the upcoming Assembly election from Panaji constituency represented by his father for two decades before his death in 2019Raut said Shiv Senas corporators and legislators were elected from Mumbai before the birth of BJP and Devendra FadnavisThe day before Fadnavis had claimed that even before the Shiv Sena was born in 1966 there was Bharatiya Jana Sangh the forerunner of the BJP which had corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and MLAs in the stateWhen asked about CM Thackerays remarks that Sena should capture Delhi Raut clarified that he meant defeating BJP at the national levelThe country is supreme and Delhi which is the national capital should not be dominated by one or two people he saidRaut told reporters that Sena MLA and Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray will campaign for candidates of his party and NCP in Goa where elections will be held on February 14Speaking on National Voters Day which is observed on Tuesday Raut said confusion and fear prevail among voters on whether their vote goes to the candidate they have voted forHe demanded that the election system be reverted to ballot papers from EVMsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever