"Attempt to destory country's federal structure": Sanjay Raut on 'One Nation, One Election' bill

New Delhi [India], December 18 : Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said that the recently introduced 'One Nation, One Election' bill was an attempt to "destroy" the country's federal structure. He further accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spending the most money in elections.
"We have opposed this. This is an attempt to destroy our country's federal structure. This bill has been introduced so that the political power of the states and country remains with one person...The party that spends the most money in elections would be BJP," Raut told reporters.
Reacting to Union Minister Amit Shah's remarks on Dr Ambedkar, the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP labelled it as an "insult" towards Babasaheb Ambedkar, saying that the opposition will ask him about the remarks he made in Rajya Sabha.
"What else do they have? Amit Shah and PM Modiji...they have nothing left but to target the Gandhi family. We will ask Amit Shah today how he has insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar in Rajya Sabha...When will you talk about yourself?" Raut remarked.
Meanwhile, the newly formed Mahayuti government in Maharashtra finds itself amidst chaos with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal sulking over not being inducted in the cabinet.
Bhujbal said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was ready to induct him as a minister, but NCP chief Ajit Pawar refused. Reacting to this, Raut said that the senior NCP leader was a leader of Ajit Pawar's party and not of the BJP.
"Chhagan Bhujbal is a senior leader and as far as his claim that Devendra Fadnavis was ready to make him a minister but Ajit Pawar refused is concerned, I would say that he is not a leader of BJP but of NCP Ajit Pawar's party, this is a fact. Chhagan Bhujbal was our colleague at one time, later he became Sharad Pawar's colleague and nowadays he is Ajit Pawar's colleague," Raut said.
Speaking on the possibility of Bhujbal joining Shiv Sena (UBT), Raut said that the senior leader was capable of fighting his own battle.
"He is currently 79 years old and is capable of fighting his own battle. We have seen that when our movement was going on for Belgaon, he took part in the movement despite being the mayor and the then Belgaum police had also behaved very badly with him, he was even beaten up but he never backed down from that fight. So as far as we know, Chhagan Bhujbal is a fighter and he will fight his own battle," the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP said.
Earlier, members of the OBC community staged a protest against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Deputy Ajit Pawar outside the District Collector's Office in Pune, expressing discontent over the exclusion of senior NCP leader Bhujbal from the newly formed Mahayuti cabinet.
Chhagan Bhujbal was left out of the Cabinet expansion. On Monday, Chhagan Bhujbal said that it would not make a difference if he wasn't made a minister in the Maharashtra cabinet because he is never finished, implying that he remains relevant.