Our mission is to strengthen regional parties grouping: Mamata, Naidu
New Delhi, May 23: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Andhra Pradeshn counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said their participation in the swearing-in ceremony of H.D. Kumaraswamy was meant strengthen the coming together of regional parties and they would not allow obstacles in this effort.
"We are very happy that Kumaraswamyji is taking oath today (Wednesday) and we congratulate Karnataka's brothers and sisters. We are grateful that we are invited. All regional parties are present here to support Kumaraswamyji and his government. We hope for the best. We will keep in touch with all regional parties together so that we can work for the development of the nation," Banerjee said.
She said "If the state is strong, the centre is always strong. And that is why our mission and vision is very clear. We will meet each other, talk to each other and that will give us more strength for the future of the party. Chandrababu and I came here to strenthen regional parties and we will give do it continuously."
Banerjee said they would not leave any scope for any party to place obstacles in the coming together of regional parties. "If we make any promise, we fulfil it. We don't fear anybody. We work with courage. We will do what will be in the favour of regional parties and the country."
Asked if Congress will be kept away from this effort, Banerjee said: "Congress will do what it wants and we will do what we want. Congress is a separate party. This joint government of Congress and Kumaraswamiji is going on here (Karnataka). We came to support Kumaraswamyji because he is leading the regional party."
"If regional parties get together, they will have maximum strength. This is a simple thing that should be understood... It is said in Hindi that whoever will fight us will be destroyed (jo hamse takaraega wo choor choor ho jaega)," Banerjee said.
Naidu said this is a very good occasion and also a very important event as Kumaraswamy is taking oath. "We want to express our solidarity. TDP is ready to go to the oath ceremony with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi."
Asked about any front against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party, Naidu said: "What we are doing is we are watching. We all want to promote more and more regional parties that is our and Mamatai's mission."
Prominent leaders of around a dozen political parties including UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, RLD chief Ajit Singh, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan of Makkal Needhi Maiam are all set to share the dais during Kumaraswamy's oath-taking ceremony on Wednesday in a "show of strength" of the opposition parties ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in a possible line up against the BJP.
Besides these political heavy weights, Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) are also expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
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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."
