‘You Can Come Here’: Fadnavis’s Joke To Uddhav Thackeray In Assembly Sparks Buzz
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sparked a fresh wave of political speculation on Wednesday with a pointed, yet jocular, remark in the Assembly suggesting that his former ally Uddhav Thackeray could consider joining the ruling coalition. The comment, made during the ongoing monsoon session, adds a new twist to the state’s fluid political landscape.
Responding to an earlier light-hearted comment from the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, Fadnavis addressed Thackeray directly on the floor of the house.
“At least till 2029, there is no scope for us to come there (opposition). Uddhav Ji can think about the scope of coming to this side (ruling party) and that can be thought about in a different way, but there is absolutely no scope left for us to come there (opposition),” Fadnavis said with a laugh, in a video shared by news agency ANI.
The chief minister’s seemingly off-the-cuff remark comes just two days after Uddhav Thackeray had made his own quip about the possibility of the two rival Shiv Sena factions coming together.
Fadnavis’s statement is being closely watched against the backdrop of a potential political realignment between the Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), ahead of the crucial Mumbai civic body elections.
The buzz around the cousins uniting for the cause of the “Marathi manoos” (Marathi people) has grown stronger in recent months. In April, Raj Thackeray had noted their past differences were “trivial,” a sentiment Uddhav later reciprocated. The two shared a political stage on July 5 for the first time in two decades to celebrate the state government’s rollback of an order on the Hindi language in schools.
However, the MNS’s political allegiance remains unclear. Raj Thackeray has previously supported the BJP, recently hosted Deputy CM and rival Sena chief Eknath Shinde at his residence, and also met with Fadnavis at a hotel last month, keeping all sides guessing about his next move.
