Amid Maharashtra’s political churning, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that his party’s alliance with Eknath Shinde was an “emotional alliance” while that with Ajit Pawar-led NCP is “political friendship” - which would get stronger over the years.
“The MahaYuti alliance would register a huge win in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls,” he said addressing a ‘MahaVijay-2024’ meeting-cum-training session at the Bhiwandi town in Thane district.
Fadnavis also launched a scathing attack on former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray saying that his act of breaking the alliance after the 2019 polls was nothing but a stab in the back.
“After what happened…(then BJP President and now Home Minister) Amit Shah told us - ‘you may tolerate ‘apman’ (insult) but never forgive ‘beimani’ (dishonesty),” said Fadnavis.
Fadnavis said that the BJP leadership had made it very clear to him that the post of Chief Minister was non-negotiable. “We could have discussed increasing the number of ministers and allocation of some portfolios but not the post of Chief Minister,” he added.
Fadnavis, an orator-par-excellence went on to narrate incidents from the epic Mahabharat and how with the help of Lord Shri Krishna the Pandavas could defeat Kauravas - which had warriors like Bhishma Pitamaha, Karna, Dronacharya, Duryodhana among others. “What happened is not ‘adharma’ but ‘kutniti’ (diplomacy),” he said.
Speaking about Shiv Sena and NCP, he said: “We have an alliance government in place…with the Shiv Sena (led by Eknath Shinde) it is an ‘emotional alliance’ while with NCP (led by Ajit Pawar) we have a ‘political friendship’…in the next 10-15 years, I am sure that too would be an ‘emotional alliance’…we have a very strong (NDA) government and MahaYuti alliance.”
On the opposition unity, he said that that is nothing but just opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is taking India ahead. “No one can stop us now,” he said.
Fadnavis also said that BJP's doors are open for all those who would follow the party’s ideology.