'Also gets Guwahati offer to join rebels', reveals Sanjay Raut

|HT|

Two days after the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government collapsed following infighting within the Shiv Sena, party MP Sanjay Raut made a startling revelation on Saturday that he was "given the offer" to go to Guwahati and join Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs. However, he turned down the offer as he follows Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of Sena, he added. The MLAs had been staging their rebellion against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from Assam's Guwahati for more than a week. They had come to Guwahati from Gujarat's Surat. Just before Shinde took over as the Maharashtra chief minister, they had moved to Goa. All three are BJP-ruled states.

Following weeks of power tussle, Uddhav Thackeray resigned from Maharashtra chief minister's post two days ago, paving way for Eknath Shinde to take over with BJP's Devendra Fandnavis as his deputy. The new government has been asked to prove its majority on Monday.

Raut said: "I also got an offer for Guwahati but I follow Balasaheb Thackeray and so I didn't go there. When the truth is on your side, why fear?" The Sena leader also spoke on the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case and raised questions on the timing of the investigation as it coincided with the crisis in the Aghadi government -- of which the Congress and the NCP were also a part. “As a responsible citizen and MP, it's my duty to appear if an investigative agency (ED) summons me. Problem is with timing- amid Maharashtra political crisis but they had doubts. Their officials behaved well with me; told them that I can come again if need be,” he added.

Raut left the ED's office after nearly 10 hours of questioning on Friday. After leaving the office, Raut said he had extended his "complete cooperation" to the central agency over allegations related to irregularities in a redevelopment project in Goregaon and financial transactions purportedly involving his wife. Raut was summoned for questioning in the money laundering probe linked to the re-development of a Mumbai 'chawl' (tenement) and related financial transactions involving his wife and friends.

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