Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. File | Photo Credit: PTI
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after seeing how the outfit was able to defeat the false narrative being spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The opposition party said that the BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end the doubt, a story that the saffron party leaders later said affected the party a lot.
By Mr. Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM on Friday (January 10, 2025) said that the MVA has succeeded in creating a fake story during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“When the assembly polls were near, many people from different sectors inspired by RSS played their role and blew the balloon of this fake report. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He could have studied this aspect. He realized that this (RSS) is not a normal political force but a nationalist force. In any competition, it’s good to praise others,” he added.
That is why Pawar might have praised the RSS, said Mr. Fadnavis.
Speaking in an interview with editor-in-chief Vivek Ghalsasi at the recent Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala program here, Fadnavis also said that he had asked for a job in the organization when Eknath Shinde was appointed as the chief minister in June 2022, but the top leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to act as an authority above the Constitution in the government.
Asked who between Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah is the strongest, Mr. Fadnavis said that Prime Minister Modi is a very disciplined politician, while Mr.
“However, Modi ji will not do anything to make it easy,” said Mr. Fadnavis.
He said that the decision to become Deputy Chief Minister under the control of the party’s leadership made him highly praised by the team.
After the large mandate the ruling coalition received in the 2024 assembly elections, Mr. Fadnavis said that people and party workers would not be happy if the CM was not from BJP.
He said Shinde himself had agreed within minutes that the CM should leave the BJP, which had won 132 seats and was close to a majority in the 288-member Parliament.
Regarding Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter session of the legislature in Nagpur, Mr. Fadnavis said that he announced that he will not engage in revenge politics after becoming CM and all the leaders responded well to it.
On the possibility of NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or merging, Fadnavis said, “If you see the development that happened from 2019 to 2024, I realized that I will never say, and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray is going to another party. , and Ajit Pawar is coming to us in politics, anything is possible, although I would say this should happen. Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray he was a friend, and now Raj Thackeray is a friend, he said, adding that the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, however, was not a “shatru”.
When asked if he would like to be the CM or BJP national president, he said he will take whatever assignment the party gives him.
“If I was not in the BJP, no one would give me importance. I know that if I start my party, I and those with me will lose their deposits in the elections. My identity is because of the BJP. If they ask me to stay at home, I will do it without hesitation,” said Fadnvais.
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati, from whom he learned patience, which he said was an important quality in politics, and the ability to criticize.
Simply put, he said: “I only get angry when I’m hungry. If you see me angry, give me food, and my anger will stop.”
Published – January 11, 2025 09:16 am IST