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By India Today News Desk: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has downplayed the criticism written about its chief Uddhav Thackeray in Sharad Pawar’s autobiography, saying it is “wrong information”.
Claiming that Uddhav Thackeray would soon respond to what has been written about him in the book, Sanjay Raut said “books are read for just two days and then put into libraries”, news agency PTI reported.
Sharad Pawar’s revised autobiography, ‘Lok Majhe Sangati’, which focuses on events post-2015 in Maharashtra, was released on Tuesday. In the book, Pawar wrote it was difficult to fathom why Uddhav Thackeray, when he was Maharashtra chief minister, chose to visit ‘Mantralaya’, the state secretariat in south Mumbai, only twice during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the same event, Sharad Pawar announced his decision to step down as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, a move that sent shockwaves across the party, with members calling on him to take back his decision.
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“This is wrong information. He (Thackeray) was regularly going to the office. His visits (to Mantralaya) were reduced during the coronavirus pandemic because there was a central government directive to work from home,” Sanjay Raut said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers and other chief ministers too were not going to office during the pandemic.
In the book, Sharad Pawar also blamed Uddhav Thackeray for failing to quell the discontent within his own party and for resigning as Maharashtra chief minister without putting up a fight, according to PTI.
In a dramatic turn of events in Maharashtra politics, a rebellion by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde in June last year brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government under Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde went on to become the chief minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Pawar wrote that a chief minister needs “political acumen” and must remain well-informed about political goings-on, and “we all felt that these things were lacking”.
Speaking on the issue, Raut said, “I have not read the book. I will read it. People read a book for two days and then it goes into the library. Let it go. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief (Uddhav Thackeray) is giving an interview on this very soon. He will respond to what is written about him.”
(with inputs from PTI)
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