A fresh exchange of barbs took place in Maharashtra over the weekend amid an ongoing revolt in the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena. Hours after Thackeray claimed that the defection of his faction’s MPs was designed to keep Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in check, the BJP leader hit back, saying since he has no wings, no one can clip them.
While Uddhav Thackeray toured the constituencies of the six UBT Sena MPs who recently defected to the Eknath Shinde-led Sena, he said that ‘Operation Devendra’ was underway and was being used to organize the exit of the legislators.
“The MPs were taken away when there were no elections. Why did they not join the BJP? I suspect this is actually ‘Operation Devendra’,” he said, adding that Union minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah may have carried it out “to keep Fadnavis at a certain level so that he does not enter the (future) race for the chief minister’s post.”
Reacting to these remarks the next day, Fadnavis quipped: “I am a human being. I have no wings, who can clip them? I have the blessings of the 14 crore people of Maharashtra and my senior leaders, so there is no need to worry.”
Uddhav claims the CM looked “helpless” on the joint trip
Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis shared the same flight from Mumbai to Nagpur last week, a video of which went viral. Speaking about the trip in his address on Saturday to a gathering of party workers in Hingoli in central Maharashtra, Thackeray said the Prime Minister appeared “helpless” and low on confidence.
“Just as Shivraj Singh Chouhan was marginalized despite the BJP winning Madhya Pradesh only because of him, Fadnavis too is on the way to being marginalized,” he said.
“The operation to steal six Sena MPs from UBT is not a Tiger operation but a Devendra operation, carried out to slim him down. Whoever becomes strong enough to become the PM candidate is sidelined by the BJP.”
Fadnavis replied: “He was busy on phone throughout the journey.”
In an interaction with the media in Palghar on Sunday, Devendra Fadnavis seemed amused by Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks, asking when he saw him so “helpless” during the trip.
“I have a habit. When I board a flight I watch a movie or an OTT, or a web series downloaded on my phone. That’s what I was doing for the entire duration of the flight. So, when did he see my helplessness,” Fadnavis said.
He also denied the political uproar caused by the joint trip incident, claiming that it was a “pure coincidence.” Responding to intense speculation in government political circles, Fadnavis called the matter “Vedyancha bazaar” (crazy market), pointing out that it was not unusual for two leaders to travel on the same flight.
Read also: Nimbalkar waited until the last minute to defect for a higher price: Thackeray
In another swipe at Uddhav, the Prime Minister said: “I accept his good wishes. If he had given them in 2019, the picture might have been different. Since he could not do that, I accept those good wishes now.”
The new war of words between the rivals comes amid an ongoing crisis within the Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, due to the defection of six MPs in Maharashtra.
