Many leaders in queue to join BJP: Fadnavis
Mumbai, May 24: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday claimed that many leaders from various parties in Maharashtra are ready to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon.
"Several leaders are enthusiastically queuing up to join the BJP. Just wait and watch," Fadnavis said, while welcoming former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator Niranjan Davkhare to the party fold.
He added that the BJP was always ready to accommodate people who were doing good work for the people and society and the entry of a youth leader like Davkhare "would be an asset to the party".
"What Maharashtra has achieved in the past four years was never seen in the earlier two decades. Similarly, in the past 25 years, the one government that has stood behind the people like the Himalayas is the present (Modi) government," Fadnavis said.
Today's development came amidst fresh political speculation that another NCP legislator and Mathadi labour leader, Narendra Patil, was likely to cross over to the BJP soon.
On Wednesday, jolted by Davkhare's move to quit the party and his membership of the Legislative Council, the NCP retaliated by suspending him from the party membership for six years for anti-party utterances and activities.
Davkhare, 39, is the son of the late NCP leader Vasant Davkhare, who was among the closest aides of party President Sharad Pawar, and a former Deputy Chairman of the Upper House, besides holding other important posts.
"Sharad Pawar is a great leader. However, I wanted the opportunity to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Davkhare said as BJP state President Raosaheb Patil-Danve formally inducted him into the party.
On quitting, Davkhare had on Wednesday said he was "feeling very sad to leave the NCP", whose birth and growth he had witnessed along with his father, "but I am totally fed up with the local intra-party politics".
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has announced another round of elections to two Graduates and two Teachers Division constituencies in the Upper House to be held on June 8.
The four retiring members are: Apoorva P. Hiray (BJP) from Nashik Division Teachers constituency, Kapil Patil (JD-U) of Mumbai Division Teachers constituency, Deepak Sawant (Shiv Sena) from Mumbai Division Graduates constituency and Davkhare from Konkan Division Graduates constituency.
However, it is not clear if Davkhare will be given BJP ticket to contest the bye-polls to the Upper House next month.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
