A fresh exchange of barbs unfolded in Maharashtra over the weekend amid an ongoing rebellion in Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of Shiv Sena. Hours after Thackeray claimed that the defection of his faction’s MPs was engineered to keep Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in check, the BJP leader hit back, saying since he doesn’t have wings, nobody can clip them.
As 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 at play and was used to orchestrate the exit of the lawmakers.
“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, further adding that Union minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah might have carried it out to “keep Fadnavis at a certain level so that he does not enter the (future) race for the prime minister’s post”.
Reacting to these remarks a day later, Fadnavis quipped: “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”.
Uddhav claims CM looked ‘helpless’ on shared flight
Uddhav Thackeray and Devendra Fadnavis shared the same flight from Mumbai to Nagpur last week, a video of which had gone viral. Speaking about the ride in his Saturday address at a gathering of party workers at Hingoli in central Maharashtra, Thackeray said the chief minister looked “helpless” and low on confidence.
“Like Shivraj Singh Chauhan was sidelined despite the BJP winning in Madhya Pradesh only because of him, Fadnavis too is on the way to being sidelined,” he said.
“The operation to steal six Sena (UBT) UBT MPs is not Operation Tiger but Operation Devendra, carried out to cut him down to size. Whoever becomes strong enough to become a PM candidate is sidelined by the BJP.”
Fadnavis hits back: ‘Was busy on phone throughout flight’
In an interaction with the media in Palghar on Sunday, Devendra Fadnavis looked amused at Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks, asking when did he see him being “helpless” on the flight.
“I have a habit. Whenever I board a flight I watch a movie or OTT, or web series that is downloaded on my phone. That is what I was doing throughout the duration of the flight. So, when did he see my helplessness?,” Fadnavis said.
He also dismissed the political buzz triggered after the shared flight incident, 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.
Taking another swipe at Uddhav, the chief 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 so, I accept those good wishes now.”
The fresh war of words between the two rivals comes amid an ongoing crisis within the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena, caused by the defection of six MPs in Maharashtra.
