Video shows Shiv Sena minister sitting beside ‘bag of cash’!

Mumbai: BJP's ally in Maharashtra's Mahayuti government, Shiv Sena, seems to be making headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent days. After the incident of an MLA from the party assaulting a canteen worker, alleging stale food, allegedly making a controversial statement against South Indians and being named in a case over the assault incident, now a Shiv Sena minister was found sitting beside a bag allegedly full of cash in a video.

It is Maharashtra minister Sanjay Shirsat sitting in a room along with a partially opened bag containing what looks like bundles of notes in the video, which went viral on Friday, PTI reported.

The video and its content have significance since it surfaced a day after reports emerged of Shirsat facing scrutiny from the Income Tax Department regarding a significant increase in his declared assets, which surged from Rs 3.3 crore in 2019 to Rs 35 crore in 2024. The IT department has requested an explanation for this significant increase in his financial worth between the 2019 and 2024 assembly elections.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, who posted the video on X, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah should take note.

“I feel pity for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis! How many more times will he just sit and watch his reputation being torn to shreds? Helplessness has another name: Fadnavis!” Raut posted on X.

However, the Shiv Sena minister rubbished the allegations that it was a money bag and claimed that it contained only clothes.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Shirsat said, “The house seen in the video is my home. It shows I am sitting (clad in a banian) in my bedroom. My pet dog and a bag are also seen. This means that I have just returned from travel and removed my clothes. If I have to keep such a big bag of money, is there a dearth of cupboards?"

“But they see (currency) notes even in cloth bags,” Shirsat said. “Had there been money, I would have kept it in the cupboard,” he said.

Asked if there were only clothes in the bag, the minister said, “Of course. There were clothes in it.” “Such claims won't affect my (political) career,” he added.