Speaking for the first time on how the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had gone back on its promise despite the BJP-Shiv Sena combine having won big in the 2019 Assembly elections, Devendra Fadnavis opened up on what party seniors like Amit Shah expressed about the political back-stabbing by UBT.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made a sensational expose on the promises made by Uddhav Thackeray, the former chief of the Shiv Sena and now the head of the UBT Shiv Sena faction.
After Uddhav Thackeray reneged on promises made at the Goddes Pohradevi temple, Amit Shah asked Fadnavis to stop extending the olive branch as the Shiv Sena chief’s action of warming up to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and its partner the Congress party was a deal breaker as far as the BJP was concerned.
“Tolerate ten insults but don’t tolerate backstabbing”, Amit Shah told Devendra Fadnavis on forming the coalition government with the Shiv Sena as decided earlier.
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🪷महाविजय २०२४ प्रशिक्षण वर्ग, भारतीय जनता पार्टी, महाराष्ट्र.
🪷MahaVijay 2024 Training Workshop – Bharatiya Janta Party, Maharashtra.#MahaVijay2024 @CTRavi_BJP @cbawankule @ShelarAshish @BJP4Maharashtra @BJP4India#BJP #BJPMaharashtra #MahaVijay https://t.co/vhIRfVLlJw— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 13, 2023
Devendra Fadnavis was addressing the BJP Karyakartas convention (called a karyashala aka a workshop) in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra in a lookahead mode to the 2024 general elections. He said that in 2019, the BJP and the Shiv Sena coalition had won the complete majority in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Uddhav Thackeray had allegedly claimed in his government formation talks with Fadnavis that he had been promised the chief ministership of the state for his party candidate.
When Fadnavis conveyed Uddhav Thackeray’s condition to party seniors viz. Amit Shah said the Shiv Sena could negotiate other proposals such as getting more ministries into the Shiv Sena fold but the chief ministership was neither promised earlier nor negotiable.
Fadnavis said that he was stunned by the actions of Uddhav Thackeray who then went on to join hands with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and make a tripartite MVA government with an unlikely political ally like the Congress party.
“In 2019, Uddhav Thackeray stabbed us – the partners of 25 years in the NDA – stabbed us in the back. It was not just me who was cheated but every person who had worked for the BJP’s success from its inception. That is when Amitji told me that in politics, insults can be tolerated, but treachery, deceit, or betrayal are absolutely not acceptable,” Fadnavis told the gathering.
2019 ला सुरुवात तुम्ही केली…
लोकशाहीची, जनादेशाची हत्या झाली.
लोक आरोप करतात, आम्ही पक्ष फोडले.
पक्ष फोडायला एकनाथ शिंदे, अजितदादा छोटे नेते नाहीत.
ज्या-ज्या वेळी अन्याय होईल, त्या-त्या वेळी एकनाथ शिंदे जन्माला येतात: उपमुख्यमंत्री देवेंद्र फडणवीस#MahaVijay2024… pic.twitter.com/mu1oD3qB5j— @OfficeOfDevendra (@Devendra_Office) July 13, 2023
Fadnavis stated incidents from the Mahabharat and the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj while driving home the importance of morality in politics and diplomacy. He said that BJP has only responded to the act of stealing people’s mandate that was carried out by the MVA coalition government comprising the Uddhav Thackeray-led erstwhile Shiv Sena, Sharad Pawar-led NCP, and the Congress party. Fadnavis also assured the party colleagues that the party is following the path of Dharma (righteousness in politics) as laid down by Bhagwan Sri Krishna who had also defined what acts qualify as Adharma (immoral).
This is what Mahabharat has taught us. This is Dharma, not Adharma !
आपल्याला महाभारताने हेच शिकवले आहे. हा धर्म आहे, अधर्म नव्हे !
महाभारत ने हमें यही सिखाया है। यह धर्म है, अधर्म नहीं !
(Bhiwandi| 13-07-2023)#Mahavijay2024 #bjpmh @BJP4Maharashtra @BJP4India #MahaVijay2024… pic.twitter.com/HqLgtpGrpV— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 15, 2023
Looking back on Uddhav Thackeray’s “back-stabbing”, Fadnavis said that the former must have sought pardon from the Goddess Pohradevi for his default on the sworn oath made before her to stand by the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition decision of 2019.
Elaborating on how BJP looks at its alliances with diametrically opposite political allies like the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde versus the NCP led by Ajit Pawar, Fadnavis said that the alliance with Shiv Sena is emotional, while that with the Rashravadi under Ajit Pawar is political. The alliances are dynamic and NCP could someday become an emotional ally in the future, he observed.
“The BJP will take along its allies – viz the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction in 2024 and will win with an unquestioned majority to take the state and India forward on the trajectory that it has already set itself in,” Fadnavis said on the decision to stand by its partners.
