Sanjay Raut Hits Out at BJP's Appointment of Suvendu Adhikari as Bengal CM

Mumbai, May 9 (UNI) Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut sharply criticized Union Home Minister Amit Shah's move to make Suvendu Adhikari the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Speaking to media persons on Saturday, Raut said, “The BJP has maintained its tradition of appointing a highly corrupt person as the Chief Minister. During 2020, a sting operation was carried out and five Trinamool Congress MPs were caught accepting money on camera. Suvendu Adhikari was one of them.”

“Later, the central government got the Enforcement Directorate and the Anti-Corruption Bureau to raid Suvendu Adhikari. After those raids, Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP and today he has become the Chief Minister of Bengal. Suvendu Adhikari is still moving around inside the BJP washing machine, but his stain of corruption has not been laundered yet. By appointing such a corrupt person like Suvendu Adhikari as Chief Minister of Bengal, the BJP has maintained its tradition of giving power only to corrupt people,” Sanjay Raut said.

However, the Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban countered Sanjay Raut, and said: “Sanjay Raut should not say anything about what the tradition of the BJP is in West Bengal. When Uddhav Thackeray was Chief Minister, it was a tradition to recover Rs 100 crore every day. The BJP made Suvendu Adhikari the Chief Minister of Bengal because none of the allegations against him have been proven.

“The allegations against Sanjay Raut have been proven and he has also been jailed. Sanjay Raut should remember this,” Navnath Ban said.

In his press conference, Sanjay Raut also alleged that the Fadnavis government has given away 294.66 acres of government land in Mira Road West to real estate development companies. He demanded that the land given to these companies must be recovered at any cost.

“Who are the owners of Mira Real Estate Investment? The Maharashtra government has big lawyers, but the government still lost the case regarding its land in court. Did the government lose the case deliberately? The government must answer,” Sanjay Raut said.

“If any minister had taken such a decision, the High Court would have said that the transaction was not transparent and that minister would have lost his job. But in this case, the High Court gave this land to the real estate developer for free. This is Maharashtra's land. Who is this real estate developer? Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule should find out and bring it to light.

“Yesterday, Bawankule said that he would challenge the court's decision,” Sanjay Raut said.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has stated that it will file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court in case this land is given to private real estate companies. “The land in question was given under lease to some companies. But after 1980, it is alleged that some private companies strengthened their claim on this land on the basis of various court orders and administrative decisions. The names of companies like Mira Real Estate Developers, Mira Salt Works and Estate Investment have come to the fore,” Sanjay Raut said.

“In this case, private parties benefited from court orders in 1996, 2002 and 2018. The land transfer process was facilitated by decisions of some district collectors,” Sanjay Raut alleged.

Countering this allegation, Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Navnath Ban said, “Not even an inch of the state government land in Mira-Bhayandar will be allowed to go to any private real estate company. We will fight right up to the Supreme Court. Just as the culprits in the Patra Chawl scam were put in jail, the accused in this case too will be put in jail.

“This is not a Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Uddhav Thackeray-Sanjay Raut government that will support any real estate developer”. “Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has publicly stated that the state government will approach the Supreme Court in the Mira-Bhayander Road cases and that government land will not be allowed to go to any real estate developer. Sanjay Raut questions even the High and Supreme Court, which is an insult to these courts,” Ban added.