Mumbai . Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut criticized former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, alleging that he had removed the fear of law from the minds of leaders who defected in Maharashtra. Raut claimed that by not deciding on the disqualification petitions, Chandrachud left the doors and windows open for defection. This statement of Shiv Sena (Ubhata) leader Raut comes after his party’s crushing defeat in the state assembly elections, where under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), it had contested 95 seats but could win only 20 seats. .
The performance of MVA’s other coalition partners was no better. The Congress won only 16 out of 101 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) won only 10 out of 86 seats. Speaking to reporters, Raut alleged, “He (Chandrachud) has removed the fear of law from the minds of turncoats. His name will be written in black letters in history.” Following the split in the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the party filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the disqualification of party MLAs who defected along with Eknath Shinde.
The top court had left the responsibility of deciding on the disqualification petitions to the Speaker of the Assembly. The Assembly Speaker had declared the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction as a “real political party”. Raut alleged that the results of the assembly elections were already decided. He said that if the then former judge had decided on the disqualification petitions on time, the outcome would have been different.
“We are sad, but not disappointed,” he said. We will not leave the fight incomplete. Division of votes was also a factor and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) played an important role in the election. The poisonous campaign had a negative impact on us.” Raut said the swearing-in ceremony of the new government should be held in neighboring Gujarat. Meanwhile, in his weekly column ‘Rokhthok’ in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Shiv Sena (Ubhatha) leader Raut claimed that the time has come to express condolences to the Election Commission which turned a blind eye to the use of money power. “The courts have been in the ICU for a long time,” he alleged.
