After ED attaches his assets, Sanjay Raut decries ‘harassment’ of middle-class Maharashtrians 

“I am a Shiv Sainik. These false investigation do not scare me or my party. I will never bow before this politics of revenge of vendetta,” he says

The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) attachment of his “honestly-earned assets” was an instance of persecution of middle-class Maharashtrians in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday. He accused the BJP-ruled Central government of unleashing its agencies against him after he allegedly refused to help the BJP topple the tripartite ruling ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA) government.  

Speaking in New Delhi, the Sena spokesperson denied he had any illicit “property”. He said he had only his flat in Dadar and a piece of land not more than an acre in his ancestral Alibaug. He had been fully aware for some time now that Central agencies had been put behind him.

“I am a Shiv Sainik. These false investigation do not scare me or my party. I will never bow before this politics of revenge of vendetta,” he stated. He was not given any prior notice by the agency before it attached his flat and land, he claimed.

Mr. Raut noted that he had written to Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu in February, claiming that Central agencies had been let loose against leaders of his party ever since it ended its 25-year-old alliance with the BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“I have been a fighter throughout. I have worked alongside [late Sena founder] Bal Thackeray for 30 years. I will never remain silent despite all this. It is the BJP which will now have to remain silent,” he said.

He had received calls of solidarity from several people, including Sena president and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, he stated.

Last week, Mr. Raut had remarked that the State Home Department, which was in the NCP’s kitty (with Dilip Walse-Patil being the Home Minister) was not ‘aggressive’ enough in its response to frequent raids by Central agencies on MVA leaders.