BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Chandrasekhar Bawankule raised political eyebrows on Sunday, after remarking that the Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis ought to be the Chief Minister for the State’s development.
Speaking at an event in Nagpur, the BJP State chief hinted to his audience, that as long as he was the Party’s State unit president, Mr. Fadnavis ought to become the CM.
While calculatedly not uttering the word “Chief Minister”, Mr. Bawankule left his sentence incomplete while exhorting his audience to fill in the words.
After persons from the audience approvingly shouted “Chief Minister”, Mr. Bawankule continued his speech, stating, “We all need to work in such a manner that he (Mr. Fadnavis) will get that post (of the CM).”
State would flourish under Fadnavis
He said that Maharashtra should repeat the cycle from 2014 to 2019 [when Mr. Fadnavis was the CM] and that the State would surge ahead under his leadership.
“Mr. Fadnavis has worked to give justice to every community, be it the Maratha or the OBC or the Dhangar, or any other section of people. He has never expected anything… It is our responsibility to ensure that Mr. Fadnavis gets the top post. He is the only one who could make the State’s future,” Mr. Bawankule said.
The BJP, which came to power in June this year by toppling Uddhav Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, had supported rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde’s intra-party revolt. The decision to make Mr. Shinde – and not Mr. Fadnavis the CM had come as a surprise to many BJP party workers and leaders.
Ex-BJP State chief Chandrakant Patil, now a Cabinet Minister, had remarked that it was “with a heavy heart” that the Party had ceded the top post to Mr. Shinde.
Meanwhile, following Mr. Bawankule’s remark, Shinde-faction leader and Minister Shambhuraj Desai said there was no need to read too much into the BJP State president’s remarks and assured that the Balashebanchi Shiv Sena (Mr. Shinde’s faction) would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the BJP.
“The media should not attempt to give a different turn to such remarks…such statements [Bawankule’s remarks] do not change anything. Mr. Bawankule is my good friend and I shall be meeting him tomorrow during the Assembly session,” said Mr. Desai, downplaying his alliance colleague’s remarks.
Mr. Bawankule’s remarks, however, gave fodder to the Opposition NCP and the Congress with NCP leader Amol Mitkari stating that Mr. Bawankule’s statement was clear evidence that it was Mr. Fadnavis who was the real power in the present government, while Eknath Shinde was “merely a puppet CM.”
