Sanjay Raut calls for arrest of Kirit Somaiya and his son for their involvement with Rakesh Wadhwan

Shiv Sena Member of the Rajya Sabha today called for the arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil for their involvement with Rakesh Wadhwan, the chairperson of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-Operative (PMC) Bank, which is in crisis.

Raut alleged that Neil is a partner with Wadhwan, who had donated Rs 20 crore to BJP. Raut also said that people close to Kirit Somaiya had started withdrawing money from the PMC Bank, on getting an inkling that the bank was in trouble. (Lakhs of customers of the bank are waiting to get their money back.)

The Shiv Sena leader appealed to the Enforcement Department to probe the allegations made by him.

Raut said some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had met him in Delhi recently asking him to walk out of the party and help topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

He told a crowded press conference at Sena Bhavan, the party headquarters, that he was told by the BJP leaders that if he did not cooperate, his situation would be ‘tightened’ and also of other prominent leaders of the partners in the MVA.

Raut said that he told the leaders that there was no question of him quitting Shiv Sena and that it would not be possible for the BJP to topple the government, which had the backing of 172 legislators. He added that the BJP retorted that the central investigation agencies will start their work against leaders of the MVA.

In an oblique reference to BJP leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya, the Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Raut, said, “The broker from Mulund held a press conference to announce the names of the MVA leaders who would be raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the next day residences of MVA leaders, including those of Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s family members were raided at 3 am.” He questioned how Somaiya could announce what action ED would be taking.

According to Raut, his friends and associates have been raided and that people in his village are being forced to give statements against him. He said that he has a small piece of ancestral land in his village and the ED went down to probe about the land. Raut said that he had called up Union Home Minister Amit Shah to state that if he had a grudge against him (Raut), action could be taken against him, but ED should not be harassing his associates.

Referring to the charge made by Somaiya that Raut has 19 bunglows, the latter said that he is willing to book buses and take journalists for a picnic to the 19 bunglows, allegedly owned by him and that if the bunglows exist, he would quit politics, but the property does not exist, Somaiya would be beaten up, not just by him, but by Shiv Senaiks.

Later, Raut changed the term broker to pimp, while referring to the Somaiya. He said that Somaiya is anti-Maharashtra and anti-Marathi and that Somaiya had moved the court to seek a ban on compulsory teaching of Marathi in schools in Maharasthra.

Raut also alleged that the BJP is using the ED to try to topple three non-BJP state governments in the country.