Fadnavis scoffs at Pawar's 'Forced Uddhav to be CM' quip: 'Why made CM if uninterested?'

Scoffing at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's defence of CM Uddhav Thackeray, ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday, asked why was a person not interested in being CM made the state govt head. Citing the Mahabharata, Fadnavis reminded how war broke when the Kauravas refused to cede an inch of land to the Pandavas, he added, "Now those who were not ready are taken by the hand and brought to power".

Fadnavis scoff's at Pawar's explanation on Uddhav being CM

Earlier on Sunday, after Thackeray's fiery Dussehra rally, Fadnavis termed it the frustration of the CM. Refuting claims that MVA govt was the 'rightful govt' he said that people had elected a BJP-Sena government and rejected both NCP and Congress.  Fadnavis also took umbrage to Thackeray's praise for Mamata Banerjee, vowing to never let Maharashtra become Bengal.

Scoffing at Thackeray's claim of not wanting to be CM, he said, "This govt is fraudulent. For last 2 years, you're saying that you dont want to be a CM, please stop denying about your desire to be CM". Fadnavis recently said that while touring Maharashtra, he still felt like he was CM seeing people's love.

In response, Pawar claimed that Thackeray was selected as the CM by the leaders of MVA. "When we held a meeting to form the MVA and to discuss the leadership of the alliance, I forced him (Uddhav Thackeray) to become the chief minister. I have seen these people since their childhood," the NCP chief stated, adding that Balasaheb Thackeray and he had political differences but they were close.

"I thought why not the son of a person who had contributed for Maharashtra should become the CM and I insisted Uddhav Thackeray to become the chief minister. Fadnavis had worked with Uddhav so he knows how Uddhav is. He should stop questioning repeatedly about how Uddhav became CM," Sharad Pawar said.

BJP-Sena fallout

Prior to the 2019 Maharashtra state polls, Shiv Sena had reiterated that it will accept only the 50:50 formula, while BJP denied ever having agreed to such a formula. It allegedly offered 13 cabinet portfolios to Sena while keeping 26 for its ministers. Apart from Sena's portfolio demand, the party had demanded a sharing of 2.5 years in the CM post too; this too was  refused by Devendra Fadnavis, stating, 'The next govt will be formed under a BJP CM.' With no respite to the deadlock, Sena allied with NCP-Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance and Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28, 2019.