Mumbai

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said there is nothing peculiar about the nomination of industrialist and "gentleman" Arun Lakhani as a candidate of the BJP for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council elections, noting that he has always backed the RSS.

Lakhani's son, Sarang, is set to marry NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule's daughter Revati.

Arun Lakhani was nominated by the BJP from the Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli local bodies constituency for the June 18 elections.

"There is nothing peculiar about Lakhani (getting nominated as the BJP's candidate for the legislative council polls). He has been a member, and he is a gentleman who gives strength to the RSS in every way," Raut told reporters.

He added that there are many such lawmakers in Parliament from Maharashtra whose roots are in the RSS.

"Lakhani is not from the Congress or NCP (SP). Lakhani comes from the list of people in Vidarbha who have backed the RSS from the very beginning," Raut said.

June 1 is the last date for filing nominations for the legislative council polls. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 2, and the last date for withdrawal is June 4. Votes will be counted on June 22.

The 16 local self-government bodies constituencies going to the polls include Solapur, Ahmednagar, Thane, Jalgaon, Sangli-Satara, Nanded, Yavatmal, Pune, Bhandara-Gondia, Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Nashik, Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli, Amravati, Osmanabad-Latur-Beed, Parbhani-Hingoli, and Aurangabad-Jalna. A by-poll will be held for the Nagpur local bodies constituency.

Elected members of local governing bodies form the electorate for the MLC elections, necessitated by the expiry of the six-year term of the incumbent members of the upper house of the state legislature.

Slamming the BJP over Tanpure's nomination, Raut said, "This is the tradition of the BJP. Prajakt Tanpure had contested the last assembly polls and the previous one against the BJP," Raut said.

He asked Tanpure to stop the farce of using the BJP as an excuse for development work.

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"The BJP should follow some norms. (It's) Local party workers have the responsibility of picking up rugs and tea cups (of new entrants)," the Sena (UBT) MP said.

Raut said the majority of BJP leaders are turncoats, including the chief ministers of West Bengal and Assam, except for the CMs of Maharashtra and a few other states.