Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the top leader of the country and his party. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi two days ago in New Delhi to discuss the Maratha reservation issue.

Speaking to the media person at Jalgaon on Thursday he said that the BJP owes its success to Narendra Modi in the last seven years and currently he is the top leader of the country and his party. The BJP won in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections on the image of Modi, has suffered setbacks in states, the most recent of which were in Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

PM Modi was a prominent face on the campaign trail in each of those three polls, but the BJP wound up with zero seats in Kerala, four in Tamil Nadu and 77 (of a target of 200) in Bengal, said Raut.

The  joining of former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, an influential Brahmin face in UP is an indication the party may be ready to reset and focus on local rather than out of state faces. He also said that PM Modi shouldn’t get involved in campaigning as he belongs to the entire country. The Shiv Sena’s stand has always been a Prime Minister belongs to the country and not one party. Hence PM shouldn’t get involved in campaigning.