Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said Mumbai would have a consensus “Mahayuti” mayor and downplayed the Shiv Sena‘s move to shift its newly elected corporators to a five-star hotel, ruling out the possibility of poaching.“Just like I am meeting newly elected BJP corporators in Pune, Eknath Shinde may have called them for a meeting in Mumbai. There is no question of poaching,” he said.
“Eknath Shinde, I and other leaders from both the parties will meet and together take a decision regarding who will be the Mumbai mayor and for how long. There will not be any differences. Everything will go smoothly. Together, we will efficiently run Mumbai,” he said, reminding that MNS did not gain anything from the alliance with Shive Sena (UBT) as per his prediction.When reporters informed Fadnavis about the meeting between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar on Saturday morning, and the decision of two NCPs to contest the Zilla Parishad polls together, he reacted in just one word: “Good.”Fadnavis was in the city to attend the welcome ceremony of the cycling event Pune Grand Tour.After the programme, he told reporters, “The BJP-Sena alliance lost 14 seats by less than seven, 15, or 100 votes in Mumbai. Shinde-led Sena contested the election there for the first time. They were expecting more seats, but lost a few by narrow margins.”BJP won 89 seats and Shiv Sena bagged 29 in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Fadnavis said the undivided Shiv Sena did not get these many seats in the past three elections.“We have broken the record of the undivided Shiv Sena in the past three elections. We have a full majority. The next Mumbai mayor will be from Mahayuti,” Fadnavis said.On Ajit Pawar not attending the state cabinet meeting held in Mumbai earlier on Saturday, Fadnavis said the former had informed him about the same in advance. He said, “We all met at night on the voting day. Ajit Pawar had said that day itself that he would not be able to come for the cabinet and the function here today (Saturday) because the governor was visiting him.”When asked if Puneites rejected Dada (Ajit Pawar is known as Ajit Dada), Fadnavis said, “I will not say that; I will say that Puneites accepted BJP, BJP workers and Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi).”Ajit Pawar’s NCP is a part of the Mahayuti govt in the state and the Centre, but he decided to join hands with NCP (SP) and contest against BJP in PMC and PCMC polls. The alliance of the two NCPs failed to pose a challenge to BJP and the latter got a thumping majority in PMC and PCMC elections.When asked who was Pune’s Dada now, in reference to how NCP chief Ajit Pawar is addressed, Fadnavis said, “Pune’s people are the ‘Dada’ and we all are their sevaks (servants).”He said, “People of Maharashtra decided that they would side with those who support Modiji. Voters have shown the other parties, be it Congress or anyone else, that the agenda of development will work here. Instead of asking if those in power are eliminating opposition, one should ask the opposition if it will play the role of the opposition.”Fadnavis said, “Will they make the effort and enter the fight? I spent many years in the opposition, most recently in 2019. I performed the role of the opposition leader for two-and-a-half years despite our party having maximum seats. When one is in the opposition, one has to interact with the public and raise their issues. No opposition party takes shape by sitting at home,” Fadnavis said.
