MUMBAI: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said it was unfortunate that the BJP is backing Kangana Ranaut despite the actress likening Mumbai to Pak-occupied Kashmir, and added this was done with an eye on Bihar polls.
In his weekly column Rokhthok in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut also claimed there is a systematic effort to reduce the importance of Mumbai, and constantly defaming the city is part of that conspiracy.
"This is a difficult period when all Marathi people in Maharashtra should unite," Raut said.
By supporting Ranaut and through its stand in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the BJP wants to win Bihar polls with the upper caste Rajput and Kshatriya votes, he said.
"While doing this, it doesn't matter if Maharashtra is insulted. Not one Maharashtra (BJP) leader was sad over the manner in which the state has been humiliated," Raut said.
"An actress humiliates the chief minister and people of the state shouldn't react, what kind of one-sided freedom is this?" asked Raut, who is the executive editor of Saamana.
"When her illegal construction in the city, which she calls as Pakistan, is demolished, she calls the demolished structure Ram Mandir. You are crying hoarse when there is a surgical strike on the illegal construction. What kind of a game is this?" he asked.
Responding to the demolition, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had said the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government should focus on fighting coronavirus instead of Kangana Ranaut.