Hindutva Still My Ideology, Devendra Fadnavis Close Friend: Uddhav Thackeray Tells Maharashtra Assembly

Mumbai, December 1: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, while addressing the Legislative Assembly, attempted to allay doubts raised by his detractors over the Shiv Sena's ideology. Known for its right-leaning socio-political view, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was accused of betraying its core plank of Hindutva to ally with the "secular" Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Speaking on floor of the House, Thackeray said his firm belief in Hindutva will always remain intact. The Sena, he added, would never betray its core ideology. The alliance with the Opposition parties was necessitated only after the erstwhile ruling partner BJP subjected the Sena to injustice, the CM said. Devendra Fadnavis Elected Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly.

Even as Thackeray raked up the bitterness between BJP and Sena ties, he expressed his goodwill towards former Maharashtra CM and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis. Referring to him as friend, he claimed to have learnt several things from Fadnavis over the last five years.

"I have learnt a lot of things from Devendra Fadnavis and I will always be friends with him. I am still with the ideology of 'Hindutva' and won't ever leave it. In past 5 years, I've never betrayed the government," he said.

"I won’t call you (Devendra Fadnavis) an 'Opposition leader', but I will call you a 'responsible leader'. If you would have been good to us then, all this (BJP-Shiv Sena split) would have not happened," Thackeray added.

The Sena supremo further went on to refer himself as a "lucky CM" as those who were his stark political nemesis have sided with him, and those with ideologically similar views are part of the Opposition.

"I am a lucky CM because those who opposed me are now with me and those who I was with are now on the opposite side. I am here with my luck and blessings of people. I have never told anyone that I will be coming here but I came," Thackeray told the House.

The 59-year-old had taken oath as the Maharashtra CM on Thursday, a day after Devendra Fadnavis resigned from his second stint in power that lasted for only 80 hours. On Saturday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Thackeray successfully cleared the vote of confidence with support from 169 legislators.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 01, 2019 02:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).