Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut today said that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is in depression as he is forced to work under his junior Eknath Shinde. This latest salvo from the Rajya Sabha MP comes just a day after Mr Fadnavis took a “high at 9 am” swipe at him for his prediction that the Eknath Shinde-led government would collapse soon.

“That man has been the Chief Minister and is being forced to work under someone so junior to him. His mental state is definitely not fine. It’s not about getting high, the issue is that we are speaking the truth, fighting for the people of the state, and they are supporting us, that’s why such leaders have gone into depression. This high of depression is very bad,” he told NDTV.

On Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule’s claim that there will be two ‘explosive’ developments in Maharashtra, Sanjay Raut said he thinks those will be the state government’s collapse and replacing the Chief Minister. He reiterated his earlier claim that if fresh state elections are held before the general elections next year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition will win 180-185 seats in the Assembly and at least 40 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

Amid speculations on the unity between MVA constituents — Congress, NCP, and Shive Sena’s Thackeray camp — following Sharad Pawar’s non-committal response to the opposition alliance going to the poll battlefield together again, Mr Raut said the NCP chief’s remarks were deliberately twisted. 

“Mr Pawar had just said that we are all in the MVA together, and there will be some uncertainties on the existence of the MVA till there is a discussion on seat-sharing. But he clarified yesterday that we will contest elections together as the MVA, we are united,” he said, adding that whether its state or Lok Sabha elections, in 2024 the Maha Vikas Aghadi will fight together.