Fadnavis Meets Sanjay Raut For Two Hours, Now 'Clarified' As Interview For Saamana Following Speculation

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met Shivsena leader Sanjay Raut at a luxury hotel in the western suburbs of Mumbai, PTI reports. The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has refused any political angle with respect to this meeting.

The two politicians interacted for over two hours. This was the first such meeting between Fadnavis and Raut after Shivsena allied with the Congress and NCP to form the government in Maharashtra last November.

BJP cleared the air around this meeting by claiming that Raut had sought an interview with the ex-CM for his publication ‘Saamna’. The Member of Parliament from the upper house has earlier held discussions with Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackarey for the same.

Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhaye issued a clarification of sorts on Twitter.

“(Sanjay) Raut wanted to interview Fadnavis for (the Sena mouthpiece) Saamana and this meeting was to discuss how to go about it. Fadnavis informed Raut that he would grant him the interview after returning from the Bihar poll campaign,” he explained.

The Shivsena lawmaker echoed similar views. Speaking to PTI, he stated, “Is it a crime to meet Fadnavis, who is a former chief minister and now the Opposition leader in the state Assembly?”

He added, “When I interviewed Sharad Pawar, I had announced that I have planned interviews with Fadnavis, Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah.”