The leading constituent in Maharashtra's ruling coalition said it had always respected Indira Gandhi, who it said, had a towering and strong personality
Raut claimed that 'Indira Gandhi used to meet Karim Lala in Pydhonie (in south Mumbai)'
Raut also said it was Sharad Pawar who first decided that the NCP, the Congress and the Sena will join hands to form a coalition government
The book, titled "Aaj ke Shivaji: Narendra Modi", has been written by BJP leader Jay Bhagwan Goyal
Raut also claimed that by 2022, there will be enough numbers "on our side" to decide the presidential candidate
The Congress is part of the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra
The Sena, which supported the bill in the Lok Sabha, did a u-turn on Tuesday when its chief Uddhav Thackeray indicated that its support was conditional in the Upper House of Parliament
"We are all one and together, watch our 162 together for the first time at grand Hyatt at 7 pm, come and watch yourself @maha_governor
Reiterating the Shiv Sena's demand for sharing the chief minister's post, Raut said the state's CM will be from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party only
Raut is the leader of Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha and his seating position has been changed from the 3rd to the 5th row
He said the picture of the government formation in the state will become clear in the next two days.
He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray may hold consultations to finalise the CMP
The 57-year-old firebrand Sena leader also tweeted a motivational Hindi couplet, saying, 'Haar ho jaati hai jab maan liya jaata hai, jeet tab hoti hai jab thaan liya jaata hai'
The Shiv Sena on Monday suffered a setback in its efforts to cobble up a non-BJP government in Maharashtra with the Congress at the last moment announcing its decision to hold more talks with ally NCP
The BJP and Shiv Sena negotiations are now somewhat reminiscent of their post-election government formation negotiations in 2014
Thackeray chaired a meeting of all party MLAs at his residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra, where the legislators also reiterated that the formula of 'equal sharing of posts and responsibilities'
He also took a dim view of the governor giving 72 hours to the BJP to stake the claim, but just 24 hours to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
Sena said the BJP should approach the Uddhav Thackeray-led party only if it agrees to share the chief minister's post with it
The BJP and the Shiv Sena are locked in a bitter tussle over sharing of the chief minister's post and ministerial portfolios in new government in the state.
The Sena indirectly blamed the BJP and the CM for the current political situation.