'MVA only targeted people & did corruption': Fadnavis tears into erstwhile Uddhav govt

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday attended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state executive meeting. Addressing party workers, Fadnavis slammed the former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and said that they only did two things - targeting people and corruption.

"Maharashtra was falling behind in development but now again it will top. State's 12 crore people wanted a change (new government). The previous government used to target people who were talking against them. The previous government was only doing two things- target people and corruption," Fadnavis said.

He said that the people of the state were doubtful of who was running the MVA government. "Every development work was stopped. They stopped all Central projects," the BJP leader said.

Fadnavis praises Shinde faction

Praising Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction, Devendra Fadnavis said that they decided to quit the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government and come with BJP, which was in the opposition at that time.

"For the first time, it happened in history that 50 MLAs, including nine ministers, decided to quit the ruling government and come with opposition. I want to thank Eknath Shinde for taking this step. They did this to take forward Balasaheb's ideology."

Further targeting Uddhav Thackeray's faction, Maharastra deputy CM said, "The Shiv Sena that is currently in minority had betrayed us in 2019."

He said that the new government has done several developmental works in its first 24 days, including reducing petrol and diesel prices, OBC reservation in local body polls, removing roadblocks from the bullet train, and renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad among others. 

The rebellion in Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and forced Uddhav Thackeray to resign as Chief Minister. Later, the breakaway faction formed an alliance with BJP. Eknath Shinde became Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis his deputy.