This is an archive article published on February 25, 2023
Fadnavis claims Uddhav offered him CM post, Raut says dy CM sensationalising issue
Fadnavis had earlier claimed that after the 2019 Assembly elections, when he had tried to contact Thackeray to form the government, the latter had refused to even take his calls.
Fadnavis claims Uddhav offered him CM post, Raut says dy CM sensationalising issue
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A day after Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that he was offered the chief minister’s post by the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray during the rebellion by the Eknath Shinde-led faction in June 2022, Sena (UBT) Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Saturday said Fadnavis was trying to create “sensationalism” and “confusion” among people.
However, did not reject Fadnavis’ claim.
During an interview with a news channel, when Fadnavis was asked whether Thackeray had contacted him during the rebellion, urged him to forget the past and said the Sena was ready to join hands with the BJP, the deputy CM had said, “Yes, I was contacted… but I replied that we have moved forward. I was told that whatever has happened has happened, now you become the chief minister. I made it clear that the moment had passed… I am not the one who will betray… Now these people (Shinde faction) had come with us and we cannot ditch them. When they have rebelled and joined hands with us, we cannot betray them… This cannot be part of our politics. And that is why I refused it…”.
Raut did not deny that the Sena had established communication with Fadnavis during Shinde’s rebellion. “Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister then and Devendra Fadnavis the opposition leader. What is wrong when two leaders communicate… He must have spoken to Fadnavis…,” he said.
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Asked whether the chief minister’s post was offered to Fadnavis, Raut said, “Fadnavis is trying to create sensationalism and create confusion among people. In politics, people discuss their respective stands… When two leaders communicate and discuss certain issues, what is the point of sensationalising the discussion?”
Raut said Fadnavis was trying to draw attention towards himself as he had failed to become the chief minister. “Every day, he is trying to stir up some sensationalism in a bid to draw attention towards himself. He could not become the chief minister but now, as the deputy chief minister, he is trying to assert his importance,” he added.
Fadnavis had earlier claimed that after the 2019 Assembly elections, when he had tried to contact Thackeray to form the government, the latter had refused to even take his calls.
Meanwhile, NCP leader Ajit Pawar said on Friday that the NCP or the Congress had never made any attempts to decimate the Shiv Sena (UBT), unlike the BJP. “Everyone knows who took MLAs to Surat and Guwahati. Everyone knows who broke the Shiv Sena… In fact, Uddhav Thackeray himself has said the Congress and NCP helped the Shiv Sena in difficult times while its own partner of 25 years stabbed the Sena in the back,” said Pawar.
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.
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