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Tag: Devendra Fadnavis

  • Will BJP seize the oppurtunity? Fadnavis meets Nadda to discuss Maharashtra crisis

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis met BJP president J P Nadda here on Tuesday amid the spiralling political crisis in the state threatening the three-party Maha Vikas Adhadi government’s existence.

    Fadnavis is believed to have briefed Nadda about the unfolding political developments in the western state.

    He arrived in the national capital earlier to discuss the issue with the party’s top brass, with 39 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and at least 10 independent legislators from the state lodged in a five-star hotel in Assam and working on overdrive to bring down the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government.

    The BJP has denied any role in the rebellion but Fadnavis is being seen to be playing a key role in working out a post-MVA dispensation which he may head with support from the Sena rebels.

    Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar on Tuesday suggested that the saffron party is waiting for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to declare that they don’t have the numbers.

    He reiterated that the BJP is in a wait-and-watch mode and that it does not need to prove a majority on the floor of the House as of now.

    The political crisis triggered by Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde’s rebellion with a majority of MLAs of his party entered the next phase with the Supreme Court on Monday keeping in abeyance the disqualification proceedings of 16 rebels before the Deputy Speaker till July 11 and also refusing to pass any interim order on the state government’s plea that there should not be any floor test in the Assembly.

    Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Mungantiwar said, “We have decided to wait and watch. Considering the present situation, a core team will be formed in the coming days, which will deliberate on the subject and then a decision will be taken.”

    The former finance minister further said that the BJP does not need to prove the majority as of now.

    “The party is now waiting to see when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance will declare that it is in minority (that they lacked numbers in House)”.

    Asked if BJP MLAs from the Vidarbha region will be herded to Mumbai after holding a meeting of legislators in Nagpur, Mungantiwar maintained that he had not come to take the MLAs to Mumbai, and it was an organisational meeting to discuss ways to take welfare schemes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to people.

    Talking about the Maharashtra crisis, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday said his party was watching the turmoil in the ruling Shiv Sena from a distance.

    The main constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the neighbouring state plunged into disarray on June 21 after senior leader Eknath Shinde rebelled against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and was now in Guwahati with a sizable number of dissidents.

    “We have no role in the current turmoil in Maharashtra. This (rebellion) is internal strife of the Shiv Sena. We are just standing at a distance and watching it,” Vijayvargiya told reporters.

    Speaking about reports of Sainiks loyal to Thackeray attacking offices of rebel MLAs, he said efforts were being made to create a “West Bengal like situation” in Maharashtra by spreading fear and terror.

    Vijayvargiya, who was one of the key strategists for the BJP for the WB polls, added that people of Maharashtra would not want the state to fall prey to anarchy.

  • Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde met Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis in Gujarat on Friday: Sources

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI: While the BJP is said to be distancing themselves from Maharashtra minister’s Eknath Shinde rebellion, terming it as internal matter of Shiv Sena, it has now been reported that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and state Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis had a confidential meeting in Vadodara with Shinde late Friday night. 

    According to highly placed sources, Fadnavis was seen at Mumbai airport on Friday night taking a flight to Gujarat and it is believed that Shinde, who left Guwahati’s Blue Radisson Hotel where all rebels are campled, had met Shah to discuss their further strategy and solve the crisis.

    “The rebel camp wasn’t expecting the party to disqualify them as MLAs for defacation, as they will be in trouble if the disqualifaction is a succes. The Assembly deputy speaker has also called them for an hearing to the disqualification notice and if all of them come together, then a solution can be brought opon to keep the flock together,” said a source requesting anonymity.

    “Even during Chagan Bhujbal’s revolt against Shiv Sena, initially 18 MLAs had rebelled but in reality only 11 were left.  Beside, when Narayan Rane left Shiv Sena, that time also same issue happen. Shinde is worried about repeating the same history and that will jeopardise both his political career and BJP’s dream of coming back to power in Maharashtra,” the source added.

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    He said that Shinde had asked the BJP to find out the solutions for this crisis. “It has been five days since the rebel MLAs are outside Maharashtra. Their restlessness is increasing due to insecurity and protests against them in their respective constituencies by Shiv Sainiks. If there is any delay in government formation, then things can slip out of their hand,” he said.

    “While such operations have to be carried out quickly, this is taking more time and it can damage to such an extent that the fight is likely to dragged to court and state assembly only. Therefore, Shinde asked for Shah and other leader’s immediate intervention and hence, the Vadodara meeting was arranged,” he added. Fadnavis, who also attended this high level meeting, wasn’t not available for a comment.

    Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that six rebel ministers will be sacked from Uddhav Thackeray’s ministry and gave a ’24 hour ultimatum’ to come back and meet the chief minister to whom they can put forth their demands. 

    “Our government follows laws. Therefore, it will take little time but the ministers and MLAs who cheated us will face the public music. The legal team is working over and within 24 hours, we will see the result,” Raut said.These rebel ministers include Eknath Shinde, Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Sandepan Bhumars besides Bacchu Kadu.

    Sources said that Thackeray will write to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari demanding sacking of the said ministers.

    ALSO READ| My fight is for rescuing Shiv Sena from ‘python of MVA’: Eknath Shinde

    Earlier today, Shinde alleged that the security of the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and that of their family members was removed. “If something happens with them, then this Aghadi government including the chief minister and home minister will be held responsible,” he said.

    However, home minister Dilip Walse Patil denied the report that no such decision of removing security has been taken and in fact looking at the present political situation, the security has been provided.

  • We are exploring possibility of government formation in Maharashtra: Former BJP minister

    Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the former BJP minister said that 'their priority is for the smooth transition of power'.

  • Ensure your vote doesn’t turn invalid due to some mistake: Fadnavis tells party MLAs on RS polls eve

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: On the eve of elections to six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday held a meeting here with the MLAs of his party, where he advised them to ensure that their votes do not turn invalid due to some mistake.

    The former chief minister was speaking to the BJP MLAs at a hotel. “You have been instructed on how to exercise the preferential voting for the Rajya Sabha. You will have to ensure that your vote will not become invalid due to some mistake,” the Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly said.

    “We have told you how to vote and you should do it accordingly,” he added.

    Union Railway Minister and election in-charge for the BJP Ashwini Vaishnav was also present at this meeting.

    Fadnavis, who tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, days after being found infected, joined the meeting and addressed the MLAs.

    After more than two decades, Maharashtra will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.

    Polling will be held at the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex, here between 9 am and 4 pm.

    Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik (BJP), Praful Patel (NCP), Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress) are in the fray for the six seats of the Upper House of Parliament.

    The contest is for the sixth seat – between BJP’s Mahadik and Sena’s Pawar. Every vote has become crucial after BJP decided to field its third candidate in the election.

    The BJP has 106 MLAs in the lower house of the Maharashtra legislature while it claimed to have support of some independent and small parties as well.

  • Fadnavis likens Uddhav government with Babri; says he won’t rest till it is brought down

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Hitting out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday sought to liken the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state with the Babri mosque structure and said he would not rest till the Shiv Sena-led dispensation was brought down from power.

    He also said that the Shiv Sena does not mean Mumbai, Maharashtra or Hindutva, and added that nobody can separate Mumbai from the state, but he wants to free the city from “corruption and misdeeds”.

    Fadnavis was addressing ‘Hindi Bhashi Mahasankalp Sabha’ organised by the BJP’s North Indian cell in suburban Goregaon, a day after Uddhav Thackeray’s rally in the city, where he had slammed Fadnavis and the BJP.

    Fadnavis’s rally began with the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa.

    Elections to several other civic bodies in the state, including Mumbai, which was ruled by the Shiv Sena for more than 25 years, are due this year.

    Describing Thackeray’s rally as a “laughter show”, Fadnavis said, “This man had never spoken about the state’s development, progress and welfare of people in the two-and-a-half years (of his rule).”

    “One doesn’t become a tiger just by clicking photographs of tigers. There is only one tiger now – Narendra Modi,” he said.

    During his rally, Thackeray had targeted Fadnavis for saying that he was in Ayodhya during the demolition of the Babri mosque.

    “If you had tried to climb the Babri mosque, it would have collapsed under your weight,” he had said.

    Referring to it, the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly said he weighs 102 kilos now, while back in 1992 his weight was 128 kilos.

    “I will not rest till I bring down the Babri structure of your power,” Fadnavis said.

  • Fadnavis terms CM Thackeray’s speech as ‘another taunt bomb’

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday poohpoohed Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s speech at a rally here as yet another “taunt bomb”, and said a befitting reply will be given.

    Earlier in the evening, Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, launched a scathing attack on the BJP, a former ally, accusing it of peddling “fake Hindutva” and diverting people’s attention from real issues.

    “This turned out to be yet another taunt bomb, it will get reply and a befitting one,” Fadnavis tweeted in Marathi after the rally.

    The BJP leader had in the past accused Thackeray of taunting opposition leaders instead of speaking about the issues that concern people.

    Meanwhile, Avinash Abhyankar, a leader of the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, also took a jibe at the chief minister over Twitter.

    The character of ‘Lucky Singh’ in the film “Lage Raho Munnabhai” gets the message ‘get well soon’ from everybody, and his party too will send the same message (to Uddhav Thackeray), he said.

    CM Thackeray, in his speech, had taken potshots at Raj Thackeray, his estranged cousin, saying that like Sanjay Dutt’s character `Munnabhai’ in the film thinks that he is conversing with Mahatma Gandhi, some people think they have become (Shiv Sena founder) Bal Thackeray.

  • ‘Painful, embarrassing for Maharashtra’: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis decries arrest of Rana couple

    By PTI

    MUMBAI BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday called the arrest of MP Navneet Rana and her husband and MLA Ravi Rana by Mumbai Police “painful” and “embarrassing” for Maharashtra.

    He also said the police did not act when a leader of the ruling Shiv Sena made threatening statements or the car of a BJP leader was attacked, but arrested the Ranas when they arrived in Mumbai to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s house.

    In a series of tweets, Fadnavis said, “The incidents in Maharashtra are painful. No FIR was filed when Mohit Kamboj’s vehicle was attacked or when a leader talks about burying a woman representative 20 feet under the ground. But when the Rana couple comes to Mumbai to recite Hanuman Chalisa, they are immediately arrested.”

    इतकी दंडुकेशाही इतका अहंकारइतका द्वेषसत्तेचा इतका माजसरकारच करणार हिंसाचारएवढीच तुमची मदुर्मकसत्तेच्या मस्तीत कसेही वागून घ्यापण, जनता सारे काही पाहते आहे !निव्वळ लज्जास्पदलोकशाहीत मत मांडण्याचा अधिकार संपला?लोकशाहीचे गार्‍हाणे गाणारे आज सोयीस्कर गप्प का?
    — Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 23, 2022
    Kamboj, a Mumbai BJP leader, had claimed on Friday that his car was attacked near Matoshree, Chief Minister Thackeray’s private residence. Sena leader Raut said earlier on Saturday, without naming any person, that anyone who tried to test the patience of his party would be “buried 20 feet beneath the earth”.

    “Why is there so much arrogance of power? It is the state government that is instigating violence. Is your manhood limited to such behaviour,” Fadnavis, a former chief minister tweeted. “It is an utter embarrassment for the state to witness such a poor show. All this is happening before the people,” he added.

    He also asked if the arrest indicated that “people have lost their right to express their views”, and why those who speak about democratic values were “selectively silent”. Earlier in the day, speaking in Nagpur, Fadnavis said the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government’s way of handling the entire episode was “very childish”.

    “If allowed, the Rana couple would have gone there (Matoshree), recited Hanuman Chalisa and returned without creating any news. I don’t understand why so many people had gathered at several places as if they (Rana couple) were planning some attack. What kind of politics is this?” the BJP leader said.

    Mumbai Police on Saturday evening arrested MLA Ravi Rana and his wife, MP Navneet Rana, both Independent legislators from eastern Maharashtra, for allegedly “creating enmity between different groups” after escorting them out of their house in suburban Khar amid high drama.

    The development came hours after the couple cancelled their plan to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence ‘Matoshree’ here.

  • PM Narendra Modi has turned BJP’s ideology into reality: Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI

    PUNE: Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned the ideology of the BJP into reality, adding the PM always told leaders and workers that the party was not a machine to just win elections.

    Speaking at a book release event here, the senior BJP leader said that winning polls was part of the party’s functioning as it had adopted democracy. “Modiji always tells us we (BJP) are not a machine to just win elections. Winning polls is part of our functioning as we have adopted democracy. In a democracy, to bring about change, we will have to win elections. The PM brought the same thought into reality and showed it can be done,” Fadnavis said.

    He said former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had formed a coalition government with 22 parties with a common minimum programme that did not have issues like revoking of Article 370, Ram Temple. Vajpayee at the time had said the CMP was of a coalition and these issues would be there if it was a government of the BJP, Fadnavis said.

    When Modi became PM, he made all these issues a reality, the former chief minister added. “In true sense, PM Modi showed the ideology or thought of a party can be brought into reality by executing the change,” Fadnavis claimed.

    He added that India underwent a “decade of decay” between 2004 and 2014 under the Congress-led UPA government, while under the leadership of Modi, the country successfully fought the COVID-19 pandemic and administered vaccines to its 125 crore population and even exported it to 50 nations.

    Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, the External Affairs Minister told the world, and USA especially, that India was concerned about its interests first. Even Russia believes PM Modi is best suited to mediate to stop the present war, he said.

    He also released a book on the life of Prof Na Sa Pharande, late chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council at another event. “Samrasta or hamrony is our way of living but we politicians tend to opt for social engineering. However, I believe only the BJP is using the path of samrasta. In other parties, leaders are brought forward in the name of social engineering while decisions are taken by someone sitting in Delhi,” he claimed.

  • Nagpur lawyer Satish Uke, his brother ‘usurped’ lands, resorted to fraud: ED

    The lawyer is known for filing petitions against senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over the last few years.

  • BJP put MVA government on backfoot on corruption issue: Fadnavis

    Darekar is accused of contesting election in the labour category even though he can not claim the status of labourer.