Sanjay Raut says he fears threat to former Army Chief Naravane, demands tightening of security

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said here on Tuesday that he fears for the life of retired army chief General M M Naravane and alleged that the BJP government could scapegoat Naravane like it did with Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk.

Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Sanjay Raut said, “Rahul Gandhi tried to expose an issue related to national security. When a neighbouring country had approached India’s borders with an intention to attack, the then political leadership of our country should have taken a decision. When former army chief General M M Naravane (retired) was seeking orders on what to do, our PM and Defence Minister failed to take any decision. I feel concerned about General M M Naravane’s security now that this issue has come up. The government will surely try something against General Naravane, just like it declared activist Sonam Wangchuk a traitor, after he exposed the presence of Chinese troops in Ladakh. Therefore I am concerned about General MM Naravane’s safety and his security should be tightened”.

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“On the basis of an unpublished autobiography of former Army Chief General M M Naravane, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi asked some questions to the central government. But he was not allowed to speak in the Lok Sabha. His subject was of national interest. Manoj Naravane has written everything in his book. There was no objection in presenting them before the nation. But Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh ran away after shutting down the discussion in Parliament. Now it is necessary to provide General Naravane with increased security arrangements,” Raut said.

Speaking to the media persons on Tuesday, Sanjay Raut said that Ajit Pawar’s plane crash is suspicious. “Ajit Pawar died in an air crash, but how exactly did it happen and why did it happen? The people of Maharashtra have the right to understand this mystery. The BJP people who are criticising me must understand that it is not I who raised such doubts, but even some NCP MLAs and some of their own party leaders have raised such doubts openly. I took the matter forward, because I also have some information. While going through Ajit Pawar’s old statements, I noticed that Ajit Pawar was preparing to return to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP again,” Sanjay Raut said.

“Both the NCPs were going to come together. The only people who had a problem with it were Modi, Shah and Fadnavis. If Ajit Pawar had left the BJP and gone back to Sharad Pawar, it would have been the biggest defeat for the BJP and its ‘Operation Lotus’. So was Ajit Pawar’s air crash also a part of Operation Lotus? People have asked this question. It is observed that whosoever goes against the BJP either goes to jail or loses his life,” Sanjay Raut said.

“Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s ties with the BJP may not last long because Maharashtra is moving in a different direction from the thoughts of Shahu Maharaj, Phule and Ambedkar. Ajit Pawar too had begun to become firm about this ideals and he had started speaking publicly. Ajit Pawar had said in a speech on January 15, that he had BJP’s corruption files. He kept talking about it repeatedly and said how the BJP had looted Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipalities. He gathered the files and evidence about it when he was in power. Ajit Dada said that the BJP ate money in street dog sterilisation programmes in Pimpri Chinchwad, due to which the BJP was uneasy with him,” Sanjay Raut said.

“Since Ajit Pawar was the Finance Minister of Maharashtra for many years, he had accumulated a lot of evidence, due to which internal discussions started within BJP about this. His close associates referred to these documents. All these files and all the documents and evidence were in Ajit Pawar’s possession. Ajit Pawar was probably keeping all this with him always, and he must have had some documentary evidence with him that fateful and tragic day as well. Just within half an hour of his plane taking off, there was an accident. Why does the BJP give explanations? There should be an inquiry committee appointed in this regard and it should be headed by a judge,” Raut said.

“Now even Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said that the aircraft was hovering and something must have happened before it crashed suddenly. I never said anything different. My only mistake is that I said it first. Now others are also saying it. This is not the first time Ajit Pawar has traveled by aircraft. He frequently travelled by chartered aircraft and helicopters. So the people who manage all this know about the pilots and other things. Even Amol Mitkari of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP raised several questions, along with Chhagan Bhujbal. Even some people from Ajit Pawar’s family are discussing it. I felt that this issue should come up in Parliament. So I raised it and demanded that an impartial inquiry should be held in this regard and that a committee should be appointed under the chairmanship of a judge,” Sanjay Raut said.

“Ajit Pawar-led NCP is no longer a party run by those who speak Marathi. Now vultures are going to pounce on his party. These days we see photographs of Amit Shah and Praful Patel (of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP) holding hands and hugging each other tightly displayed in the Parliament premises. That is why we are suspicious. We sincerely feel that some bad things have happened to Ajit Pawar due to BJP’s Operation Lotus policy,” Sanjay Raut said.

However, BJP’s spokesperson Navnath Ban responded to Sanjay Raut’s allegations by saying that Raut must leave politics and write scripts for web series. “Sanjay Raut, who made baseless statements that Ajit Pawar was willing to return to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, is deliberately spreading false information by writing an entertaining web series script. Raut, who made such absurd statements about Ajit Pawar, must present concrete evidence in this regard. Raut has become accustomed to making false allegations while holding the position of MP. He should quit politics and write scripts for web series,” Ban said.