Dy.CM Devendra Fadnavis still not on good terms with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Dy.CM Devendra Fadnavis still not on good terms with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
All is still not well between
Dy.CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Dy.CM Devendra Fadnavis from being Nagpur’s youngest mayor at 27 rose to emerge as Maharashtra BJP president, then leader of the Opposition, then chief minister.
Devendra Fadnavis broke into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s elite Central Election Committee recently, leading to murmurs about his political ambitions at the national level.
For the man in him ‘ Devendra Fadnavis, it wasn’t a one-way ride up though for the man who now could well become the BJP’s national president in time.
Fadnavis wanted to create an impression that he was not power-hungry, greedy.
At the same time he wanted to create a narrative that the split was the Shiv Sena’s internal matter. A BJP insider contends that he isn’t sure how much he succeeded in this make-believe drama.
The other obstacle that Fadnavis had to jump over was his estrangement with Amit Shah, the BJP’s second-most powerful leader, that had begun showing itself after the Ajit Pawar fiasco.
Yet another BJP contender cites that It is 100 per cent true that he has not been in Amit Shah’s good books ever since. But that Shah ensured Fadnavis’s humiliation was complete by making him the deputy CM after the latter had asserted that he won’t be part of the Maharashtra cabinet is only half the truth. They are still not on good terms with each other, but the ice and coldness between the two is definitely melting.
According to this leader the drama was staged by Shah,
BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda and Fadnavis.
By getting Fadnavis to accept the post of deputy CM, they smartly drifted the narrative away from the BJP playing power politics in the state to how the BJP and Fadnavis were not power hungry. They also wanted to send a message to Shiv Sena cadres that Uddhav Thackeray’s camaraderie with the Congress and NCP were responsible for the vertical split in his party.
And Fadnavis was amply rewarded for this by bringing him onboard the 15-member BJP Central Election Committee. As per BJP leader from Nagpur, there already is talk that Fadnavis is slated to be its next national president.
That’s the most he can go in the BJP with (BJP supremo Narendra Damodardas) Modi’s blessings. He can safely count himself out of the PM race given his caste and limited reach and acceptability out of Maharashtra, the Nagpur leader adds.
According to an observer of Maharashtra Politics, he wants to become PM, but he will never reveal his feelings openly. At least, not at this stage when he is accumulating accolades for his Maharashtra adventure.
According to a veteran BJP leader, Fadnavis is smart enough to not let anybody know what’s going on between those two ears of his. “He is a doer. He believes in writing his own fate. He believes in karma.”
‘Why would India need anybody else when Prime Minister Modi is doing an excellent job for the country?’ is how Fadnavis stalls attempts at getting him to react about his ambitions to become prime minister.
He is shrewd enough to bide his time till the tide turns in his favour,” says the Maharashtra commentator. He knows age favours him and that Modi will not be India’s prime minister forever.
Who doesn’t covet that post?” asks the BJP veteran about Fadnavis’s political ambitions. “But he knows how ruthlessly Modi sidelines his political opponents within the party,” he says, pointing out how Nitin Gadkari was unceremoniously shown the door recently from the BJP Parliamentary Board.
“Everybody wants that coveted job, no doubt. But Fadnavis will not let Gadkari happen to him the leader claims.
News input KV Raman
