Nobody can topple his government, feels Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. File pic

Dispelling uncertainty prevailing in the BJP rank and file, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday that nobody had the strength to topple his government. He said the BJP would continue in the current term for as long as it wished.

"There will be no mid-term polls, we will be there as long as we wish. We will complete five years, and let me tell you that nobody has strength to topple our government," he said while addressing party workers at the BJP state executive meeting in Borivli. The CM's statement is being seen as a response to other political parties, including ruling partner Shiv Sena, who have been creating troubles for his government.

Problem of plenty
However, Fadnavis seemed to have realised that the party organisation was lacking in efforts in taking government schemes to the ground level and clarifying allegations being made by the Opposition. He looked somewhat stern when he told the workers and leaders that they needed to activate themselves.

The CM also spoke about a mobile application created by the BJP to restructure booths (workers' groups at lowest level). "You will have to go to people to create a team of at least 50. You would not be able to create it sitting at home because the mobile app would tell us your location and the registered members' location as well," he said.

He said the BJP didn't have a problem of having people in its rank. "The times have changed now. It's a problem of plenty. We have people everywhere ready to join us. We must get as many to support us," he said.

Fadnavis clarified that the app's functioning should not be viewed as monitoring by higher-ups, but taken as a module to fix accountability. "The information should reach people through us and not the media, because you know how the media treats such things," he said. Fadnavis also said that the BJP was battling perception and hence, should have a mechanism to change it.

Help farmers
He also questioned the Opposition's claims and challenged them to debate the work done by them in 15 years, compared to BJP's in the three years.

"They ate into farmers' dues when they declared a loan waiver. You know how the brother of a leader in the then government walked away with a waiver of R82 lakh, whereas distressed farmers continued to commit suicide because they got nothing." The CM then asked party workers to help farmers avail the benefit of their loan waiver.

You may also like - Mumbai Crime Roundup: 10 incidents that took place this week