Aaditya Thackeray Downplays Sanjay Raut's Taunt At Those Opposing Veer Savarkar

Maharashtra minister, Aaditya Thackeray, on Saturday, tried to downplay the fall-out from Sanjay Raut's statement that those opposed to Veer Savarkar should be made to spend two days in the same cell as Savarkar did. Aaditya Thackeray described Raut's view as his personal one and not that of the party.

The senior Sena leader and chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray's son, further observed that awarding the Bharat Ratna was the prerogative of the Centre. It was up to the BJP to decide on awarding Bharat Ratna to Savarkar, he added.

Thackeray also said that there were bound to be ideological differences when parties with different ideologies come together and described this as one of the features of democracy. Such issues would not affect the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in any way and that the coalition is stable.

In responding to Raut's taunt earlier on Saturday, Aaditya Thackeray was attempting to scale down the controversy and nip any reaction from the Congress or Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the bud.

Earlier in the day, senior Shiv Sena leader, Sanjay Raut took potshots at former Maharashtra chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan and other Congress leaders for opposing conferment of Bharat Ratna to Veer Savarkar.

Raut taunted all those ridiculing Savarkar to spend two days in the same cell as the freedom-fighter did. He also remarked that Chavan was a senior leader who must be aware of the sacrifices Savarkar had made.