‘We are in power; Eknath Shinde and I will…’: Devendra Fadnavis assures people of Maharashtra

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and he would play the remaining two and a half years of their term like a fast-paced T20 match. He was speaking at a public rally in Mumbai. “CM Shinde and I are now in power. We have two and a half years in our hands and we will play like a T-20 cricket match. There is no time to play a Test match now," Fadnavis said. 

Shinde became chief minister in June this year after breaking up the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and toppling the Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government. 

Fadnavis, meanwhile, also said that attempts were being made by some people to spread fear that Mumbai will be separated from Maharashtra. "I am making it clear that Mumbai will remain an integral part of Maharashtra and all Marathi festivals will be celebrated without any restrictions,” the BJP leader said.

Amid all this, the Opposition Congress on Tuesday accused the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra of "misleading" people on shifting of a mega Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor project to Gujarat from the state.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole maintained the Rs 1.54 lakh crore plant has been handed over to Gujarat ignoring the economic interest of the state where it was originally planned. A blame game started in Maharashtra following the announcement last week that a joint venture semiconductor project of Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, proposed to be set up near Pune city earlier, will come up in Gujarat.

"Don't contribute to the development of Gujarat by weakening Maharashtra," Patole told reporters here. "(Deputy Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis should answer if he is the leader of Maharashtra or Gujarat," the Congress legislator asked. Accusing the Shinde-led government of "misleading" people on the Vedanta-Foxconn issue, Patole targeted Fadnavis for his statement "Gujarat is not Pakistan, it is our younger brother".