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NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday launched a fresh attack on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde stating he should not be taken seriously and described him as a ‘dishonest leader’ who broke away from the Shiv Sena.Raut also took a swipe at West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, alleging that he, like Shinde, had betrayed the party that gave him political prominence. He said such leaders keep making provocative statements as long as they have power and money. Shinde added the day they lose that power, ‘the public will not even spare the clothes on their bodies.’Raut’s remarks came in response to Eknath Shide’s comment over Sena (UBT) MPs defection row saying, “This is just the trailer; the picture is yet to come”. Earlier, Shinde claimed that the revolt brewing in Shiv Sena (UBT) was “just a trailer” and that the movie was “yet to come”.Addressing a press conference, Raut said, “Do you take Eknath Shinde so seriously? Stop taking him so seriously. He is a dishonest leader who broke away from the Shiv Sena. Do you really take him seriously? Do you take Suvendu Adhikari seriously? These are all dishonest people. They betrayed the very party that gave them everything. Whoever they may be, as long as they have power and money in their hands, they will keep making such statements. The day they lose all this power, the public will not even spare the clothes on their bodies… you will see.”His remarks come amid renewed political tensions in Maharashtra following speculation that six of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s nine Lok Sabha MPs could shift to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena under the ‘Operation Tiger’.Shinde led a rebellion against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022, splitting the Shiv Sena and triggering the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The Shinde faction was later recognised as the official Shiv Sena by the Election Commission.West Bengal CM Adhikari departed from the Trinamool Congress in 2020. Adhikari, once a close aide of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections and subsequently defeated Banerjee from the Nandigram constituency.
