Shiv Sena 'bow and arrow' row: Sanjay Raut booked, Uddhav-led faction changes party Twitter handle

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut was booked for his remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Raut had claimed on Sunday that a “deal worth Rs 2000 crore” had taken place to "purchase" the Shiv Sena party name and its ‘bow and arrow symbol. His statement came two days after the Election Commission allotted the ‘bow and arrow' symbol to the faction led by Eknath Shinde.

Sanjay Raut said he heard about the complaint and that he stands by his "statement that there was a deal of Rs 2000 crore by which the Shinde faction got the party name and symbol". "Even if one lakh such complaints are registered,  will not be scared," he added.

In a video shared by ANI, Raut can be heard saying: "The party, the leader and the dishonest group that bids Rs 50 crore for MLAs, Rs 100 crore for MPs and Rs 50 lakh to 1 crore to buy our councillors. How much it would bid to take our name and symbol, you decide? I have this information that the amount is Rs 2,000 crores."

Raut added that the way "our symbol and Shiv Sena’s name has been taken" is not just. "It's a business deal for which Rs 2000 crore worth of transactions are done within six months. And this is my initial estimate," he said.

However, MLA Sada Sarvankar from the Shinde camp dismissed the claim and asked, "Is Sanjay Raut a cashier?"

Moreover, an article in Saamna, Shiv Sena faction's mouthpiece,  also reportedly mentioned that Home Minister Amit Shah "is the biggest enemy of Maharashtra and Marathis".

Reacting to this, Raut said: "Hundreds of crores of rupee have been spent to break Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena is Maharashtra's self-respect and honour. Balasaheb Thackeray formed Shiv Sena for Maharashtra's self-respect." He added: "...Shiv Sena will not end. It is ember, it is fire, it won't extinguish."

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Shinde called Sanjay Raut a "mad man" and said, "I won’t say much about Uddhav because he is a big leader.” Shinde also said there is no infighting about the Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said the party's 'bow and arrow' symbol has been stolen and the thief needs to be taught a lesson.

According to News 18, an FIR was filed against Raut at Nashik’s Panchavati police station under section 500 in this regard.

Soon, Raut drew flak from leaders of other political parties. Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar said Sanjay Raut should be within limits. "He never won any election nor fought any...When a person (Uddhav Thackeray) is frustrated or depressed, he says anything. He abandoned ideas of Shiv Sena, and Hindutva for politics," he was quoted by ANI as saying.

MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said making allegations is common but Raut used derogatory language in the press conference. "This type of language can’t be tolerated. If I was present there, I would have hit him. He has lost his sense after going to jail," he said.

The Uddhav faction reportedly deleted party website and Twitter accounnt, after it was stripped of its poll symbol by the Election Commission order. The website of Shiv Sena, with domain name shivsena.in, has been deleted and its Twitter profile name has been changed to ShivSena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray.

The Election Commission on Friday recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered the allocation of the 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it. In a 78-page order on the protracted battle for control of the organisation, the EC allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to keep the "flaming torch" poll symbol allocated to it till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.

The Commission said MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76 percent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The Uddhav Thackeray faction's MLAs got 23.5 per cent of votes polled in favour of the winning Shiv Sena candidates, the three-member Commission said in a unanimous order.