Sanjay Raut claims some lawmakers from Shinde-led Shiv Sena in touch with Thackeray faction

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claimed some lawmakers from the Shiv Sena headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were in touch with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

His remarks came a day after an editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana claimed 22 MLAs and nine MPs from rival Shiv Sena were feeling suffocated due to “step-motherly treatment” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and could quit the group led by CM Shinde.

Asked whether lawmakers from the rival Sena camp are in touch with the Shiv Sena (UBT), Raut, who is the party's spokesperson, told reporters here, Communication is always there. They (those from the Shinde camp) ventilate their grievance, but it is not right to tell this publicly. They have made a mistake (to leave Uddhav Thackeray) and they have to handle it.

Those in the Shinde group will have to contest on the BJP symbol. This is the stand of the BJP. We have this information,” the Rajya Sabha member further said.

Latching on to Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar's remark that his party was getting step-motherly treatment, the editorial in Saamana on Tuesday dubbed the Shinde group MLAs and MPs as hens and cocks imprisoned in the BJP's coop and added that it cannot be said when they could be slaughtered.