Nitesh Rane digs up Sanjay Raut's old 'Hindu Rashtra' comment, seeks Uddhav Thackeray's response amid 'turned secular' row

BJP leader Nitesh Rane asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to "sort out your own house" amid the latter's ongoing tiff with Maharashtra Governor over reopening of temples in the State.

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had earlier written to Thackeray expressing concerns over the delay in reopening of temples. Koshyari had questioned whether the Shiv Sena leader had "turned secular", a jibe which had been not well received by Thackeray.

Responding to this, Thackeray had said that the delay in reopening of places of worship is being done due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and had added, "As imposing lockdown all of a sudden was not right, revoking it completely at once will also be not a good thing. And yes, I am someone who follows Hindutva, my Hindutva doesn't need verification from you."

Meanwhile, the BJP leader Nitesh Rane dug out an old statement from Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in which he had demanded India should be declared a "Hindu Rashtra".

"Don't u want to reply to this too .. Mr CM ? Or it's just pure politics as usual ? Sort out ur own house first before blaming others!!!" Rane's tweet, which had an image of Raut's statement embedded, read.

The BJP had carried out demonstrations across the state yesterday demanding reopening of temples, several party leaders and workers had also been arrested for carrying out protests yesterday.

( With inputs from ANI )