Sanjay Raut  |  Photo Credit: PTI
Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said that they never said that an Opposition front against the BJP will be formed without Congress.
Raut, whose party shares power with the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra, said that when TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister had suggested a political front to take on the BJP, they pressed for taking Congress along.
“We never said that a political front will be formed without Congress. At the time when Mamata Banerjee had suggested a political front, Shiv Sena was the first political party that talked about taking Congress along,” the Shiv Sena MP said.
In December last year, Raut had said that the Trinamool Congress chief was contemplating an alliance excluding the Congress.
However, Sena had said that keeping the grand old party away from national politics and creating an opposition alliance parallel to the UPA without it is akin to strengthening the ruling BJP and the “fascist” forces.
In a swipe at Banerjee, the party also said that those who don’t want a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) should make their stand clear publicly, instead of creating confusion by talking behind back.
Raut also said that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who on Sunday met Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the anti-BJP front, has the “ability to lead” by taking everyone along.
Rao met Thackeray in Mumbai as part of his campaign to strengthen the opposition against the BJP-led Centre ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.