Shiv Sena (UBT) faction leader Sanjay Raut recently slammed the ruling BJP government, saying they only know how to break other parties and bring them into their fold. This is BJP’s conspiracy. They are breaking other parties, bringing them to their own party...in Maharashtra, you can see this. Those who were the most corrupt have been declared clean after joining BJP."
He had also praised Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar’s fight against the revolt in his party and called it inspiring. Earlier, Raut on Thursday claimed that 17-18 MLAs from the rival Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were in touch with his party since NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined the state government. Sena minister Uday Samant countered him by claiming that six of 13 MLAs from the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction were in touch with their party. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday questioned the need to "steal" the NCP if the Maharashtra government is already enjoying the majority as claimed by the ruling BJP. He said the "one nation, one party" plan of the saffron party would not be accepted and claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma has faded which was seen in the recently-held Karnataka assembly elections. Thackeray also claimed he had been left with no option but to join hands with the NCP and Congress after the 2019 polls as Union Home Minister Amit Shah had refused to keep the agreement of sharing the chief minister's post between BJP and Shiv Sena (undivided).After splitting the NCP down the middle and joining the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra along with 8 senior MLAs, Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister.