MUMBAI: As the Maha Vikas Aghadi government finally fell, celebrations erupted in the BJP camp. Several party leaders, including MLAs, gathered at the residence of former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai and congratulated each other. Many of them expressed confidence that Fadnavis will return at the helm soon.
“Fadnavis always used to say that he will return to the House. Now, it’s time. He will come back as the chief minister of Maharashtra,” BJP MLA Nitesh Rane said. The party’s state unit chief Chandrakant Patil fed sweets to the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
The BJP has asked all its MLAs to gather in Mumbai. Patil said Fadnavis and rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will now decide the next court of action. Fadnavis, on his part, said he would talk about the party’s next move “tomorrow for sure”.
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The rebel MLAs, who reached a Goa resort around 10 pm on Thursday, were also expected to hold a meeting there to discuss their next step in the wake of the resignation of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. One of the dissident Sena MLAs said not everyone in the rebel camp was very happy with the decision of Thackeray to step down.
Earlier, Thackeray submitted his resignation letter to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan, who accepted it and asked him to officiate as Chief Minister until alternate arrangement is made.
The BJP’s central leaders invoked ‘karma’ and the legacy of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray as they took a swipe at Uddhav.
“Karma does not spare anyone,” said BJP general secretary C T Ravi, who is in charge of the party’s affairs in the state. “Balasaheb was a man who could control governments, despite not being in power. On the other hand, his son couldn’t even control his party, despite being in power. What a fall from grace,” BJP’s IT department in-charge Amit Malviya.