Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis

NAGPUR: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The opposition had claimed that the BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative that the saffron party leaders later claimed hit the party hard.

On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM on Friday said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"When the assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition, it is good to praise others," he added.

That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.

Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.

He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.

Asked about who between Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah is more strict, Fadnavis said Modi is a very disciplined politician, while Shah can be convinced once in a while to make a political decision for convenience.

"However, Modi ji won't do something for convenience," Fadnavis asserted.

He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.

After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM wasn't from the BJP.

He said Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which got 132 seats and was close to a majority in the 288-member assembly.

On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming the CM and all leaders responded positively to it.

On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never, and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party, and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics, anything can happen, though I am not saying this should happen."

Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray was a friend, and now Raj Thackeray is a friend, he said, adding that the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, however, was not a "shatru".

Asked if he preferred to be CM or BJP national president, he said he would take up whatever assignment the party gives him.

"If I wasn't in the BJP, no one would give me any importance. I know that if I started my party, I, and those with me, would lose their deposits in the polls. My identity is because of the BJP. If it asks me to sit at home, I will do it without question," Fadnvais asserted.

He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati, from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics, along with the ability to take criticism.

In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry, give me something to eat, and my anger will go away."