Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday expressed confidence that the Shiv Sena would remain “friends” with the BJP and issues could be sorted out with its former ally in Maharashtra.
The Chief Minister, however, said that his party had neither accepted nor denied the “unilateral” support extended by the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar.Facing flak for receiving NCP’s support during the confidence motion, Fadnavis said he was never criticised so much in his 22 years of political life as much as he was during the first three days after the vote.
“Shiv Sena has always been a friend and in future, I think and I hope, we will be friends,” he said at the HT leadership Summit here.Without giving details of the negotiations between the Sena and the BJP, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said the dialogue was moving in the “right direction”.
Fadnavis denied that the RSS was mediating between the two parties. “The RSS never mediates. It does not get into politics. It is a powerhouse from where we derive the power of nationalism. Both the parties have known and worked together for the past 25 years years. We can talk to each other,” he said.
Fadnavis said NCP had unilaterally declared its support (to the Government), and his party neither denied nor accepted the support. “The NCP unilaterally offered us support. But yes, we neither denied nor accepted the support,” he said, adding, that “some things had to be done”.Fadnavis said he had “never faced so much criticism in his 22 years of political life” as much as he faced in the “three days after facing no confidence motion.”
The Maharashtra Chief Minister said he did not want to be like the former Delhi chief minister and run away from his responsibilities.“I had an option of becoming Arvind Kejriwal and run away from the responsibility. But judge me by my actions,” Fadnavis said.