Mumbai: Amidst the continuing political crisis in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday took a fresh potshot at rebel MLAs who are now camped in Assam terming them as 'Jahil' (ignorant) who are like the "walking dead."
"'Jahalat' (ignorance) is a kind of death and 'Jahil' (ignorant) people are like the walking dead," Raut said in a tweet quoting Imam Ali. These fresh remarks have come a day after he clarified his earlier "living corpses" remark for rebel MLAs, stating that he had used a manner of speech common in Maharashtra and that he did not intend to hurt anyone's sentiment.
Speaking to a group of reporters earlier on Monday, Raut had said, "Their bodies are alive, but their soul is dead, it is a way of speaking in Maharashtra. What wrong did I say? Those who stay in a party for 40 years and then run away, their souls are dead, they do not have anything left in them, these are the lines said by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. I didn't want to hurt anyone's sentiment, I just said the truth."
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On Sunday, the Shiv Sena leader lashed out at the party's rebel MLAs calling them "living corpses" whose "souls are dead". Meanwhile, attacking rebel MLAs of the party, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray accused them of "betraying" the party and said, "the dirt has gone out of Shiv Sena". Thackeray, who was addressing Shivsainiks in Mumbai said the party rebels were "enjoying" in Guwahati when Assam was dealing with floods in parts of the state.
He further claimed that 15 to 20 MLAs, who are in the Eknath Shinde's rebel camp, were in touch with the Shiv Sena and have urged the party to bring them back to Mumbai from Guwahati. He said the leader of the rebel group Eknath Shinde was offered the post of Chief Minister in May but "he refused it with some drama".
Meanwhile, a core committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Maharashtra unit was held on Monday to discuss the state's political situation amid the crisis faced by the MVA government. Notably, the battle between the groups has now reached the Supreme Court which on Monday granted interim relief to Shinde and other MLAs to file their reply to disqualification notices issued to them by the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly by July 12.
During the hearing, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for Eknath Shinde and others told the Supreme Court that the Deputy Speaker cannot proceed with the disqualification proceedings when the resolution seeking his removal is pending. (With Agency Inputs)
