Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the BJP is using Central agencies to topple Maharashtra government by targeting the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders and their family members.Addressing a news conference at the Sena Bhavan in Mumbai's Dadar area, Raut said the Aghadi, comprising Sena, NCP and Congress, won’t 'bow' before such pressure tactics. Raut claimed he was contacted by some BJP leaders to shift allegiance and warned he would have to pay a price for not doing so. “Soon after this, Enforcement Directorate (ED) started targeting people close to me,” Raut said.“
Central agencies are being used to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, but if you think we will budge, that is not possible. We have learnt this from late Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said. They (ED) are targeting family members of the MVA leaders to defame them, Raut claimed. There is a conspiracy afoot to topple governments in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Jharkhand, the Rajya Sabha member said. Raut claimed that Neil Somaiya, son of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, is a business partner of Rakesh Wadhwan, an accused in the PMC bank fraud. He said he will submit 'all the papers' in this connection to Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for appropriate action. In light of the Shiv Sena’s press conference, the police had increased vigil and security near the Sena Bhavan. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Tuesday is searching 10 premises in Mumbai in connection with a money laundering case against gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides. The agency is also probing a property deal of a senior politician in this case, according to a Indian Express report.