Devendra Fadnavis' 'childish remarks' and haste to grab power led to BJP's fall in Maharashtra: Sanjay Raut

Raut, who is the executive editor of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, claimed in his column "Rokhthok", the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine has been acceptable to the rest of the country and added Uddhav Thackeray claimed power by ousting the powerful "Modi-Shah" hold.

He claimed the newly-formed alliance government will complete five years.

Before the Assembly polls, Fadnavis made childish comments that there would be no opposition left in Maharashtra after the polls, Sharad Pawar's era is over and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi would be the main opposition in Maharashtra, Raut penned.

But, he(Raut) himself has become the opposition leader, the Sena leader wrote taking a dig at the former Chief Minister.

Raut went on to draw a comparison between the political developments in Maharashtra over the last month with a 1979 Marathi film "Sinhasan". He claimed that Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshiyari played the role of a "villain" in the series of events by swearing in Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

In an apparent reference to the Centre, Raut wrote the Governor administered the oath to Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar under the instruction of the "top".

Raut commended Sharad Pawar's efforts to cement the alliance. He wrote that Sharad Pawar conveyed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi about late Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray to Indira Gandhi and Sena's support to Congress presidential candidates Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee.

Initially, Sonia Gandhi had refused Sharad Pawar's proposal to form an alliance with Shiv Sena. However, Pawar had continued to pursue her and finally got her consent for a coalition government with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.