Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who has taken a dig at his cousin and outgoing Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray through cryptic tweets, on Friday congratulated Devendra Fadnavis on becoming the deputy chief minister of the state. In his letter to Fadnavis, the MNS chief said, “Everyone thought that you will become the chief minister but sometimes one has to accept the instructions of the party. This should be remembered by the worker and leader of every political party.”
Mr. Congratulations to Devendra Fadnavis! pic.twitter.com/2TokAB3E1F— Raj Thackeray (@RajThackeray) 1 July 2022
It may be noted that Fadnavis had earlier announced that he would not be a part of the new Maharashtra government and had announced that Eknath Shinde would be the new chief minister. However, soon after, in a dramatic turn of events, BJP President JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah insisted that Fadnavis should be the deputy chief minister in the new government.
Fadnavis was reportedly not very happy with the decision initially, but he accepted the order of the central leadership to take over as the new deputy CM of Maharashtra. Many saw this as a masterstroke of the BJP to weaken the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray and woo the powerful Maratha community in the state.
By making Shinde the chief minister, the BJP also rubbished the allegations of being hungry for power. Amidst all this, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today said that his promotion to the top post was due to a masterstroke by BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
“People felt that the BJP was desperate for power. But in reality it is Devendra ji’s masterstroke. It takes a big heart to hand over power to another person despite having a large number (of MLAs),” he said.
After taking oath as Chief Minister and Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening, Shinde said, “The people of the state and the country got to see a new example of this big heart.”
“The party with the largest number has the claim for the chief minister’s post. But in this case, I want to thank PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda and especially Devendra Fadnavis, who showed big heart and gave this opportunity to a Shiv Sainik,” Shinde told a TV channel.
Shinde said Fadnavis’s previous stint as chief minister would come in handy for him as he heads the state. “Fadnavis joined this ministry because of the instructions of his (party) superiors. I am happy for this as his experience will be useful in speeding up development works in the state.
Maharashtra State BJP President Chandrakant Patil also said that there was nothing unexpected about Devendra Fadnavis becoming Deputy Chief Minister in the new government in Maharashtra. “I know many people were shocked by yesterday’s events. But there was nothing unexpected in what happened to Devendra Fadnavis,” Patil told reporters here.
He said, “BJP decided to support Shinde for the post of CM to further the ideology of Hindutva. But Shinde himself asked Fadnavis to join his cabinet. So Fadnavis got permission from our leaders in Delhi. asked.” Praising Fadnavis, Patil said, “You need a really big heart to work under a man who was your junior earlier.”
Shinde was a minister when Fadnavis headed the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government in the state from 2014 to 2019.