He also dismissed the political buzz triggered after he and former ally-turned-rival, Uddhav Thackeray, travelled on the same flight from Mumbai to Nagpur on Friday, claiming it was a “coincidence”.
Reacting to the intense speculation in state political circles, Fadnavis termed it “vedyancha bazaar” (mad market), noting that it was nothing unusual for two leaders to travel on the same flight.
Fadnavis also made light of Thackerey’s “Operation Devendra” remark, saying since he doesn’t have wings, nobody can clip them.
He spoke to reporters after visiting Palghar district to review the Vadhavan Port and other infrastructure projects.
Addressing a rally on Saturday, Thackeray caused a flutter by saying that “Operation Tiger” was actually “Operation Devendra”, aimed at cutting the Maharashtra chief minister down to size to ensure he doesn’t enter the (future) race for the prime minister’s post.
“For me, political issues are secondary. My entire concentration is on development,” Fadnavis said when asked about Thackeray’s remarks.”I am a human being. I don’t have wings, so who can clip them? I have the blessings of Maharashtra’s 14 crore people and my senior leaders, so there is no need to worry,” he added.
“Operation Tiger” is the code name for engineering a split in the Shiv Sena (UBT), culminating in the defection of six of its nine Lok Sabha MPs, who joined the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, last week.
Fadnavis said he was surprised by the political buzz after he and former ally-turned-rival, Uddhav Thackeray, travelled on the same flight from Mumbai to Nagpur on Friday.
“It was a coincidence. There is nothing unusual about two leaders travelling on the same flight. Sometimes I wonder whether we are in politics or in ‘vedyancha bazar’ (market of mad people),” Fadnavis said.
Claiming that there was no interaction of significance on the flight, Fadnavis said, “He (Uddhav) was sitting in one corner, and I was sitting in another. If we had been sitting next to each other, we could have chatted. What’s wrong with that?”
Responding to Thackeray’s claim that he appeared “helpless” during the journey, Fadnavis said he spent the time in flight watching a movie or web series downloaded on his mobile phone.
“From the time the flight took off until it landed, I was watching it. So where exactly did they see any helplessness on my face?” he asked.
Taking a swipe at Thackeray, the senior BJP leader said, “I accept his good wishes. If he had given them in 2019, the picture might have been different. Since he could not do so, I accept those good wishes now.”
