A chastened Fadnavis offers an olive branch to Sena, says next Govt of Mahayuti

Mumbai: A chastened out-going Chief Minister of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday in a bid to placate and assuage the Shiv Sena offered an olive branch to his flustered ally by remarking that the next government will be that of the BJP-Sena led Mahayuti. Evading queries over what was his response to Sena staking claim over the chief ministership, he merely remarked that “it has already been decided amongst us and it will happen as planned. We are not bargainers. A Mahayuti government is coming back to power”.

The Chief Minister argued that the verdict was clearly in favor of the Mahayuti. Fadnavis admitted that the BJP got less seats this time around than the 122 seats it had won in the 2014 elections. Fadnavis admitted that although the partys electoral strike rate had improved, its overall performance was dented by the party rebels who in some cases had fought against partys official candidates. The Chief Minister claimed that 15 of such rebels who had contested against the Sena or the BJP candidates and won, are in touch with him and have agreed to join the next BJP-Sena Mahayuti government.

Commenting upon the performance of the opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) performance, Fadnavis said that although the opposition got some more seats, there was nothing to be elated about it as NCP chief Sharad Pawar had argued that the NCP would sweep to power. He added that contrary to Pawars expectations, the NCPs tally of seats did not rise appreciably. Fadnavis stated that a strong opposition was needed for the sake of democracy. He further pointed out that for the first time in the history of the state, a non-Congress government and a non-Congress chief minister was being returned back to power.

The Chief Minister admitted the defeat of Pankaja Munde in Parli assembly seat and Udayanraje Bhosale in Satara Lok Sabha by-election were a setback for the party. He added that the party will introspect and analyse as to why six of its sitting ministers lost in the elections. Fadnavis pinned the blame on the partys inability to reign in the rebels as expectations ran high in both the BJP and the Sena. Assuring that the problem areas will be rectified soon, he added that he was in touch with Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and assured that all things will be worked out soon regarding next government formation.