'It was not Sharad Pawar but Sanjay Raut who broke Shiv Sena': Ramdas Athawale on Maharashtra political crisis

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale has blamed Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for the split in the party and said Udhav Thackeray forged an alliance with NCP only at the behest of Raut. Speaking to ANI, Athawale said, "It was not Sharad Pawar but Sanjay Raut who broke Shiv Sena. Uddhav Thackeray decided to go with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) only at the behest of Sanjay Raut."

The Union Minister said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena governments would have come to Maharashtra if Shiv Sena and NCP had not come together. "Maha Vikas Aghadi would never have been formed if Shiv Sena and NCP had not come together and therefore BJP and Shiv Sena government would in Maharashtra," Athawale said.

Earlier, former Maharashtra Minister Ramdas Kadam alleged that NCP chief Sharad Pawar broke the Shiv Sena and said Pawar has systematically weakened the party.

Also read: Uddhav Thackeray Vs Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra: SC refers Shiv Sena, rebel MLAs’ pleas to larger bench

"It was not acceptable to any of us that the Shiv Sena chief`s son sat with the NCP and Congress ministers. If Eknath Shinde had not taken this step, Sena would not have even 10 MLAs with it," Kadam said. "I worked in the party for 52 years and in the end, I was fired. I will thank the MLAs who accompanied Eknath Shinde," he said. 

Meanwhile, Rahul Shewale said, "Uddhav Thackeray was ready for an alliance with the BJP, the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi lasted for an hour but it could not happen due to the deadlock of some Shiv Sena MLAs. "Responding to this, the Minister further said that when Shiv Sena went with NCP, "I had said this that it is against the decision of Balasaheb Uddhav Thackeray. If initially Udhav Thackeray would have come with BJP and taken the post of Deputy Chief Minister, there would not have been any deadlock."