Sena-BJP Alliance Would Not Have Broken, Had Munde Been Alive: Sanjay Raut

“Gopinath Munde, too, was a popular leader and we worked for 25-30 years,” said Sanjay Raut.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut has said that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra would not have broken if BJP leader Gopinath Munde was alive. Gopinath Munde understood Shiv Sena and its power. There is no other leader in Maharashtra, Bhartiya Janta Party to match Munde’s stature.

On Sunday on the account of Gopinath Munde’s Birth Anniversary, Sanjay Raut took a jibe at the BJP, saying he does not see any leader in the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party who can communicate like the late leader, know the politics of the state or understand Shiv Sena, like him.

Raut further stated that Gopinath Munde, till the end made attempts to ensure that the Sena-BJP alliance stayed intact.

Maharashtra’s politics would have been different if the late Bhartiya Janta Party was alive, said Sanjay Raut. “He, too, was a popular leader and we worked for 25-30 years,” said Raut.

Gopinath Munde died in a car accident in Delhi on June 3, 2014, at the age of 64.

One of the BJP’s tallest leaders in Maharashtra, former state deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, was inducted into the Union Cabinet for the first time after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He was a five-time MLA tipped to be the BJP’s CM candidate with Assembly polls in Maharashtra slated for later that year.

Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde is a national secretary of the BJP and a former MLA from Parli. His other daughter, Pritam Munde, is the Lok Sabha MP from Beed.

Sanjay Raut on Sunday also showered praise on Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on the occasion of Pawar’s birthday. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) experiment in Maharashtra has been successful only under the leadership and guidance of Sharad Pawar, he said.