India, Nov. 1 -- "Sanjay Raut in his pre-Saamna days as a journalist used to criticise the Shiv Sena in his writing, and Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray did not like him." This was revealed by MNS chief Raj Thackeray at the release of Raut's new Marathi book 'Bodh Kirtan' on Saturday. The Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, were together for the function, two days after they shared a dais with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the release of a book by renowned cartoonist Prashant Kulkarni.

Raj Thackeray said that he and Raut were friends much before the latter was hired to become editor of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna. "I had suggested to Balasaheb that he hire Raut as Saamna editor but he (Raut) was often critical of the Sena," he s...