Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday blamed former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi’s poor showing in the assembly election.
If Chandrachud had delivered a timely verdict on the disqualification cases of MLAs, the situation would not have unfolded the way it did, he said.
The former CJI had removed the fear of the law from politicians who defected from parties, Raut said.
The Sena (UBT) leader’s statement came after his party faced a severe drubbing in the assembly election, winning only 20 out of 95 seats it contested as part of the MVA.
The performance of the party’s alliance partners was no better, with the Congress winning only 16 out of 101 seats and NCP (SP) getting only 10 out of 86 seats it contested.
Raut alleged, “He [Chandrachud] has removed the fear of the law from defectors. His name will be written in black letters in history.”
Following the split in the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, the party’s faction headed by Uddhav Thackeray filed petitions in the Supreme Court on the disqualification of MLAs who defected along with Eknath Shinde. The apex court put the onus on the assembly speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions, which he did earlier this year, declaring the Sena bloc led by Shinde as the “real political party”.
Raut alleged that the results of the election were pre-decided. If the then CJI had decided on the disqualification petitions on time, the outcome would have been different, he said.
“The result was already decided, and the voting was just a formality. If DY Chandrachud had given a timely ruling on the disqualification of MLAs, this situation would never have happened. If you weren’t going to deliver the judgment, then why did you sit in that chair?" Raut questioned.
“DY Chandrachud may be a good professor or a speaker, but as chief justice, he did not make constitutional decisions. History will not forgive him for this. Had Chandrachud delivered the right judgment, the political landscape in Maharashtra would have been very different. The situation we see today would not have occurred,” he said.
“We are sad but not disappointed. We will not leave the fight incomplete. Division of votes was also a factor, and the RSS played an important role in the election. The poisonous campaign impacted us negatively,” Raut said.
Turning his attention to the formation of the new government, Raut suggested that the chief minister of Mahayuti would be decided by the Gujarat “lobby” rather than the people of Maharashtra. He warned that if the swearing-in ceremony were held outside Maharashtra, particularly in Gujarat, it would be a disrespect to the state’s culture. “If the oath-taking ceremony happens in Gujarat instead of Maharashtra, their people will be happy. But if it takes place at Shivtirtha, it would be an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Similarly, if it happens at Wankhede Stadium, it will insult the martyrs of Maharashtra," Raut argued.
