To humiliate me: Upset over RS seat change, Sanjay Raut writes to Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi, Nov 20: The Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday wrote to Chairman Venkaiah Naidu against the change in his seating position in Rajya Sabha.

"Astonished to know that my seating position in RS chamber is changed from 3rd to 5th row," Raut said. "This decision was taken by someone deliberately to hurt Shiv Sena's sentiments and suppress our voice."

"I also fail to understand the reason for this unwarranted step since there is no formal announcement about the removal from NDA. This decision has affected the dignity of the House. I request to allot us 1/2/3 row seat and uphold House decorum," he said in the letter, according to news agency ANI.

"I feel aggrieved because I strongly feel that the chairperson is above party affiliations and should take decisions in a non-partisan manner. This, a message seems to have been sent by changing the seating position...that it is correlated with the tussle in government formation in Maharashtra," wrote Raut.

Shiv Sena and BJP broke up following differences over power-sharing in Maharashtra. The allies fought the assembly polls together and got a clear mandate to form the government in October 24 results.

Shiv Sena insisted that 50:50 plan between the two parties on having the chief minister for two-and-a-half-years each. The BJP, however, has said there has been no understanding of the issue.

As the relationship soured, Arvind Sawant, the lone Sena MP in the Narendra Modi Cabinet resigned as Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. The Sena also skipped a meeting of NDA allies ahead of the Parliament.

The Shiv Sena is now making efforts to make an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress to form a non-BJP government in the state.