Maharashtra elections 2024: Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis says BJP not against Muslims, only opposes appeasement

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who is leading the BJPrsquos third consecutive state Assembly elections campaign is confident that the BJPMahayuti will form its third government With just six days to go to poll day the former CM said the alliance had an edge over the MVA that was focused more on appeasement politics rather than development agenda He said the BJPrsquos pitch of lsquoBatenge to Katengersquo and lsquoEk hai toh safe hairsquo was a counternarrative to the CongressMVArsquos narrative of dividing the society on the lines of caste and religionIn an interview with midday Fadnavis spoke about a range of issuesOn lsquoBatenge to KatengersquoIn fact the Congress started it with its appeasement policy In Lok Sabha elections their experiment of lsquovote jihadrsquo succeeded It worked in Dhule and some other constituencies in the state and Mumbai They used religion to garner votes They displayed banners on the masjid against BJPMahayuti What kind of secularism is thisNow the Congress has accepted the demands of the Ulema Council One of the demands is to withdraw cases against those accused in riot cases This is pressure tactics from one specific community Thatrsquos why we have appealed to the people to be united The Congress is also attempting to divide the society based on caste through caste census promise We are not against the Muslims We have not barred anyone from the beneficiary schemes like Ladki Bahin We are against appeasement politics We have to counter the divisive politics of the CongressMVAThe Constitution narrative has been demolished by Rahul Gandhi Gandhirsquos lsquored bookrsquo concept is lifted from a country where similar tactics were used to create anarchy and win elections But the incident in Nagpur exposed them The blank pages of the lsquored bookrsquo have insulted the Constitution like never before The Congress soul is as blank as those blank pages of the red book The narrative has boomeranged on themOn the other hand wersquore working on the agenda of development and welfare schemes that will help the people and grow the state further Uddhav Thackerayrsquos government gave us a baseline to compare us with them Otherwise there would have been nothing to talk about had we been running the government since 2019On Ajit PawarPerhaps Ajit Pawar and others did not understand that whenever we were divided the nation was divided and the society was divided Through caste census the Congress wants to split the OBCs STs and other castes into small groups These castes will become weaker if divided Remember that Ajit Pawar has supported lsquoek hai toh safe hairsquoPM Narendra Modi has said that he is not opposed to the caste census But we donrsquot want that census data to be used as a weapon for seeking more because ldquowe are more in numbersrdquo The census should be used for the welfare and emancipation of lsquohave notsrsquoOn Maratha reservationI will not comment on Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil because he is not contesting the elections and he hasnrsquot made any political announcement What wersquore worried about is the divide between Marathas and OBCs in certain parts of the state We want it plugged Also no party in the MVA or their alliance has made a mention of the Maratha quota in their individual or joint manifestos That is surprisingThe Congress and MVArsquos promise to remove a 50 per cent cap on reservations is an empty assurance because they should have read the Supreme Courtrsquos verdict that endorsed a 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections EWS I donrsquot buy the theory that Marathas did not vote for us in the Lok Sabha elections MVA and Mahayutirsquos Lok Sabha vote shares are almost the same Could we achieve that share without getting the Maratha votesOn costly welfare schemesIt is a myth that the government of Maharashtra is buried under a mountain of debt Wersquore an economic system of R40 lakh crore and the current debt is R67 lakh crore Wersquore still as per the debtGDP ratio There will be no further taxes to meet the additional expenses The states canrsquot levy more taxes in the current tax regime All that has been promised and the expenses needed for it will be part of the state budget When you ask us about debt and expenditure you should also ask MVA that has also promised increased cash doles how they will manage the schemes they have promisedOn rebellionWe have given candidates not only to our allies but also to our opponents Shiv Sena UBTrsquos first list of candidates had 17 people from our rank Rebellion is everywhere Since the 2019 results we started planning for 288 seats The situation changed later We told them prospective candidates that we would not be able to accommodate them because of sharing with alliance partners Such is todayrsquos politics that nobody is willing to waitOn support to Rajrsquos sonWersquore in Mahayuti Earlier we wished that we supported Raj Thackerayrsquos son Amit But the Sena Shinde also put its candidate and they said that if they didnrsquot their votes would go to Uddhav Thackerayrsquos Sena It will be like supporting Sena UBT they said It was because of this that CM Eknath Shinde also his party chief could not decideAs far as Nawab Malikrsquos candidature is concerned we donrsquot consider him a part of Mahayuti On Ajit Pawarrsquos revelation that a meeting to make a government with undivided NCP was held at business tycoon Gautam Adanirsquos residence in 2019 I can confirm that such a meeting was held but not at Adanirsquos residence I have said this earlier too The meeting was held at a neutral venue in New Delhi It was attended by Amit Shah Sharad Pawar Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel I was also present It was decided that BJP and NCP would make a governmentSharad Pawar suggested that in the meantime Presidentrsquos Rule be imposed in Maharashtra He also said he would tour the state and come to a conclusion that the people wanted a stable government We had decided everything right from the ministries to the guardian ministers I remember that Sharad Pawar had called me to say that he was sending Ajit Pawar who took an oath of office as Dy CM along with Fadnavis as CM They resigned within three days and later MVA was founded to run the state till the undivided Sena splitI think what Sharad Pawar might have thought before withdrawing He might have thought that it would be better to have everything under his control by installing MVA rather than working with strong people like Modiji Shahji and myselfOn poll predictionEvery election is tough and this is an entirely different one But I would say that we have an edge over our opponents and we will together win the number of seats that we had won in 2019 We will not need anyone especially Sena UBTrsquos support to stabilise our government People are with us The Oppositionrsquos narratives are not effective any longer The lsquovote jihadrsquo will work in selected seats not everywhere We three parties together will make a governmentOn Mahayutirsquos CM candidateWhat Modiji and Shahji have said about me is normally said during the elections Irsquom the state leader and naturally they appealed to the people that they should make lsquoDevendra Fadnavis victorious You shouldnrsquot read more into it There is no formula such as the number of MLAs or strike rate to decide the next CM All three parties will sit together after the results to decide the chief minister