Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Tuesday stated that his party does not feel the need to respond to remarks made by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, asserting, "Raut is not an issue for us."

Patole’s statement came in reaction to Raut’s recent remark that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) planned to contest upcoming local body elections independently, without the backing of its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, which include the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).