Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut made a startling claim on Monday when he said that for the past one year, some senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have been “indirectly” forcing him to topple Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

The MVA government consists of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

Raut was addressing a press conference after his wife, Varsha Raut, was sent a notice by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking her appearance on December 29 for questioning in the PMC Bank money laundering case.

“Some senior leaders are meeting me continuously attempting to convince me not to continue supporting the MVA as they have made all preparations to bring it down. They even showed me a list of 22 NCP and Sena MLAs who will be slapped with cases, arrested and forced to quit the government,” said Raut.

Raut said that all the efforts and threats of the BJP using the CBI or ED or any other agency will not succeed and they cannot even “harm a hair” of the MVA government.

“This is a political war and we shall only fight it politically.” Raut declared.

“Don’t take ‘panga’ with me. I am the late Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sainik. I will expose you all. I have a list of 120 BJP leaders (scams) which the ED can investigate for five years. They will have to take flight like Nirav Modi or Vijay Mallya to foreign countries,” warned Raut.

He also accused the ED of allegedly leaking out sensitive information pertaining to various cases to some BJP leaders.

“Since past few months, 3 BJP leaders regularly visit the ED office and collect documents. I have proof of this. How does the BJP come to know what cases the ED is probing? Have they entered into an alliance with each other? Has the ED set up a desk in BJP office or has BJP kept a table in the ED office,” Raut asked.

He said only those who speak against the BJP or those who were instrumental in forming the MVA government in Maharashtra are being targeted through ED and now this harassment has been extended even to their family members.

“This is ‘na-mardangi’ (impotency). If anybody indulges in such ‘na-mardangi’, Shiv Sena will retaliate appropriately. We will not hide behind women like you. We shall fight in the open as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has taught us,” he asserted.

In an apparent threat, he warned, “The day I open my mouth, the BJP at the Centre will face big problems,” adding that the Sena remains unfazed by one notice or 100 summonses.

Earlier, the Sena-NCP-Congress leaders joined ranks and came out in support of each other while unitedly slamming the BJP at the Centre.

(With IANS inputs)