'Revenge for betrayal': Devendra Fadnavis on toppling of Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA govt

Devendra Fadnavis said that the Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray betrayed him in 2019 when they ended the saffron alliance and joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress to form the MVA government.

New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday (November 5, 2022) said that the toppling of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was "revenge" for a "betrayal". The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray betrayed him and his party in 2019 when they ended the saffron alliance and joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress to form the MVA government. Fadnavis, who was the chief minister of the BJP-Sena government from 2014 to 2019, also reiterated that the BJP never promised the chief minister's post for half the term to the Shiv Sena as the latter claimed. 

"During the 2019 campaign, our leaders said elections were being fought under Fadnavis's leadership, which was never contested by Thackeray. But after the results, he realised that if three parties came together, he can become CM," he told a TV news channel. 

Instead of sharing the CM's post, the BJP had offered the Palghar Lok Sabha seat and more ministries in the state to the Sena and finalized the alliance, Fadnavis claimed. 

Eknath Shinde becoming Maharashtra CM was not a 'shocker' 

Devendra Fadnavis also said that Eknath Shinde becoming Maharashtra chief minister instead of him after the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government was not a "shocker".

"Shinde was made the chief minister after consultation with me. It was my proposal, so it was not a shocker for me," he said. 

"What was shocking was that I should be the deputy chief minister," he added.

He did not want a post in the new government but the central leadership of the BJP told him that he was the leader of the party in the state and had administrative experience, hence his staying out was not advisable, Fadnavis said. 

He also asserted that his political stature had increased after becoming deputy chief minister. 

Shinde never made him feel like he was deputy chief minister and they take decisions after consulting each other, Fadnavis added.

2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls will be fought under Eknath Shinde's leadership

The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister also said that the 2024 Assembly elections will be contested under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

"In 2024, we will fight the election under the leadership of Eknath Shinde as chief minister and me as deputy CM and we will return with a huge majority," Fadnavis said.

(With agency inputs)