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This is an archive article published on December 18, 2022

BJP chief pitches for Fadnavis as CM, Shinde camp rushes to damage control

“Till I am the state BJP president, Devendra Fadnavis should be the chief minister,” said Bawankule at a function in Nagpur where the deputy CM was in attendance.

State Congress chief Nana Patole said, “The Shinde camp should take a cue out of the statement made by Bawankule.” (File)State Congress chief Nana Patole said, “The Shinde camp should take a cue out of the statement made by Bawankule.” (File)
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BJP chief pitches for Fadnavis as CM, Shinde camp rushes to damage control
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday said Devendra Fadnavis should become the chief minister of Maharashtra, giving Opposition parties a chance to corner the ruling alliance and sending CM Eknath Shinde camp into damage control mode.

“Till I am the state BJP president, Devendra Fadnavis should be the chief minister,” said Bawankule at a function in Nagpur where the deputy CM was in attendance.

Bawankule said Fadnavis has ensured justice to every community which has approached him. “So, it is our responsibility to get him installed as the chief minister,” he said.

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Bawankule further said, “We don’t want to install Fadnavis on the highest post just for the sake of it…But for change the fortune of Maharashtra.”

Attempting to play down the statement, CM Eknath Shinde camp emphasised on the unity of the ruling alliance. “There is no need to give too much importance to one statement. No matter how much people try to create a rift, the BJP and our Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena will fight the 2024 elections together,” said minister Shambhuraj Desai, who belongs to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

While Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who is also the Opposition leader in the state assembly, termed Bawankule’s statement as BJP’s “internal matter”, party MLC Amol Mitkari said the words assume significance as they come on the eve of the state legislature session. “It means the leadership of Shinde is not acceptable to the BJP rank and file. The Shinde camp should take the statement seriously. BJP might be planning to bring an end to his tenure,” he said.

“Earlier too, Chandrakant Patil had made a similar statement at a function. Even Shinde himself had described Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra’s popular chief minister. Shinde and his group has surrendered to the BJP which is desperate to instal Fadnavis as the CM,” Mitkari added.

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State Congress chief Nana Patole said, “The Shinde camp should take a cue out of the statement made by Bawankule.”

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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