NAGPUR: Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said leaders of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance targeted him personally as well as his party, which the people of the state did not like.
The people's reaction resulted in the Opposition facing a rout in the state assembly elections, said the BJP leader whose party put up its best-ever performance by winning at least 130 seats.
"Along with the people of (rest of) Maharashtra, the people of Vidarbha region and the Nagpur district especially blessed the Mahayuti coalition immensely. The people who were saying that we would face a Panipat-like defeat in Vidarbha and Nagpur have themselves met their `Panipat'," said Fadnavis, who retained his Nagpur South West seat by more than 39,000 votes.
To a question on prominent Congress leaders tasting defeat, Fadnavis said it was a reaction from the electorate.
"The way they targeted me and my family personally, as well as the BJP and Mahayuti coalition, they singled us out and targeted us, they targeted (Prime Minister) Modi-ji... People did not like it and reacted to their abusive language," he said.
Asked about the role played by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Mahayuti's victory, Fadnavis said, "RSS is our mother organisation (`Matru Sangathana'), but all the organisations inspired by nationalist ideology did the work of breaking the anarchist narrative."