‘Not in race to claim credit’: Eknath Shinde on ads featuring only Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has asserted there is no race among the ruling Mahayuti allies to claim credit for work, and that he is working with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as a team.

Shinde made the comments in response to a question over full-page advertisements published in prominent newspapers on Saturday, featuring only CM Fadnavis.

One advertisement showed Fadnavis offering floral tributes to the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, while another showed him paying obeisance to Lord Ganesh on the occasion of Anant Chaturdashi, the last day of 10-day Ganpati festival. Both the ads have ‘Devabhau’ written in Marathi at the bottom. However, it could not be known who sponsored the advertisements.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a public function in Thane on Saturday, Shinde was asked whether the advertisements were an attempt by CM Fadnavis to project himself as the architect of the Maratha reservation.

In response, Shinde said, “We are not in a race to take credit...Whether it is the Maratha community or the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, the work of delivering justice to them has been done by the Mahayuti government. The validation of this work was already received in the last assembly elections.”

“Now Devendraji and I have started our second innings as a team. Going forward, our agenda remains the same - development of the state and helping the poor and needy,” he said.

The issue of Maratha reservation rocked the state once again recently with activist Manoj Jarange’s five-day hunger strike in Mumbai to press for the demand. Jarange launched the protest on August 29 and called it off on September 2 after the state government accepted most of his demands.

After the stalemate ended, CM Fadnavis said the government found a solution in the interest of the Maratha community.

The ruling Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).