Maha CM Fadnavis: BMC polls a do or die battle for Mumbai and its citizens

Breakfast is a hurried bowl of upma garnished with his favourite green peas on board a Cessna Citation As the jet lands a chopper lies in wait The exchange is done quickly and the helicopter whirrs off to a dusty rally venue where party workers and citizens have gathered After the rally is through the chopper takes him back to the Cessna There are seven more rallies to go Sometimes he jumps into a car or walks to reach the venue He lunches at 5 pm tucking into in a bowl of salad with portions of nachni roti Thatrsquos a typical day in the life of Chief Devendra Fadnavis who has been on whistlestop tours of the state since February 4 to campaign for the lsquomini assemblyrsquo polls in 25 districts and 10 municipal corporationsCM Fadnavis pays tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji in Kolhapur PicUday DeolekarFor Fadnavis who will complete 25 years as an elected representative on February 22 exactly five months before he turns 47 the upcoming polls will be yet another litmus test of his leadership and his governmentrsquos performance In exclusive chats with midday the undisputed BJP leader whose concerted efforts made the party sweep the civic polls in over 220 towns in the state from November through January reveals how his fight is for Mumbairsquos existence and progressExcerpts from interviews conducted mostly on board his CessnaNot many CMs or previous governments made so much effort to beat the Sena on its home turf Does this mean that you are out to finish the Sena off as a political partyNot at all We are not working to wipe out the Sena because no party can do it to any other party Itrsquos the people who make or break political parties But I think itrsquos time the voters threw the Sena out of power for the next five years in MumbaiAnd let me tell you that the BJP doesnrsquot depend on the BMC for running its affairs or for its survival My battle with the Sena is for the very existence of Mumbai Perhaps the lure of the BMC is the primary reason that Sena leaders do not leave the comforts of Mumbai and venture out as we in the BJP do to ensure the well being of the entire state For us itrsquos a fight for Mumbairsquos development and for them itrsquos all about their own developmentI agree with the opinion that the Congress and the NCP went easy on the Sena in Mumbai It has always been a fixing of sorts and a compromise to safeguard the Congress and the NCPrsquos interests in places other than Mumbai The cityrsquos resources have been bled to death by the corrupt I want to stop this We have been consistent in digging out corruption in the BMC and identifying the culpritsPrevious CMs and major Congress and NCP leaders did not really take on the Thackerays because of the fear of defeat in the metro Are you not afraid of losing out to the Sena in MumbaiThe question itself defines a qualitative difference between us and them Thatrsquos the BJPrsquos strength We in the BJP do not fight for credit My colleagues are working tirelessly on the agenda of development Irsquom not afraid of defeat The BJP will be a hero even if it finishes at No 1 or No 2 My party will grow even further in the city The results will show how well my government is performing You have seen the response my rallies in western Maharashtra the bastion of the CongressNCP are getting I only speak development I donrsquot target anyone personally As for friendly matches with the Sena my predecessors Congress were definitely afraid of defeat in Mumbai They didnrsquot want to share the blame But Irsquom not like them I share credit with my team for any success but I certainly own up to failuresLeaders in your party have been alleging that the Sena and the Congress have a lsquomatchfixingrsquo deal in Mumbai and elsewhere Do you endorse their viewsYes Very much The Sena the Congress and others can stoop to any level because their sole agenda is to ensure our defeat Sena leaders should understand that their unholy alliance amounts to betraying late Bal Thackerayrsquos ideology of fighting the evil We have data to prove the Senarsquos sins In some places like Raigad the Sena and the Congress have openly joined handsNCP chief Sharad Pawar has been quoting from an editorial written ahead of a state governmentrsquos fall many years ago We are told Pawar had played a major role in bringing that government down You had said immediately after the Sena broke alliance in the BMC that your government would remain stable in any situation Do you still foresee yourself firmly in the saddleI donrsquot read too much into statements that are made before polling day Let them say whatever they want to say Nothing deters me from running my government I will be the CM for full tenure of the term As far as Pawar is concerned his posturing seems to have changed with time When we made a minority government he said he would not want the state to face yet another election He said then that he would stand for a political stability of the state Now he says this that the governmentrsquos fall is imminent because itrsquos Godrsquos wish But I take his take as a political statement made during election time because he also knows well that nobody in his party or other outfits wants a midterm pollSena ministers and MLAs are not in favour of pulling out support to my government In fact itrsquos all political posturing on part of the Sena leadership because sainiks have been asking frequently as to why their party shares power with us if its leadership is so critical of us Any political shenanigan by the Sena or the NCP is bound to affect them more than usAre you expecting the Sena to make an emotional appeal ahead of polling day The Sena has changed its strategy and itrsquos not harping much on the sonsofthesoil theory It has not said anything derogatory about migrants and north Indians Do you see this as an attempt to eat into your vote bank of ethnic groups and migrantsI have been saying that the Sena is a party that has created huge wealth under the pretext of fighting for the Marathi manoos The Marathi people are well aware of the loot and plunder We are happy that the Sena has set its sights on migrants This shows they are on the verge of losing their trusted votersCall it an emotional appeal or emotional blackmailing Itrsquos purely a divisive agenda and a reverse polarisation It will not work this time as the Marathis will also vote for us in big numbers For they too want development and donrsquot like people who have made money by misusing the communityrsquos collective mightYou promise to punish the corrupt in the BMC and previous state governments but we havenrsquot seen much progress in this regard The Sena has accused you of corruption when you were Nagpurrsquos mayorThe Sena is up to a dirty game it wants to turn an unwanted controversy into a debate It diverts attention because it cannot debate development and transparency the two issues that forced them to break the allianceAs far as charges against me are concerned they must see what investigating bureaucrat Nand Lal then urban development secretary said in his report Nand Lal said then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh pressured him into indicting me but he refused to follow his boss The accusers should also read things that the courts have said in this case They should also verify my personal assets My assets havenrsquot seen any unnatural growth My home in Nagpur was built in 193940 What has added to my familyrsquos assets is my wifersquos income My life is an open bookI assure you that all corruption cases will be taken to their logical ends The corruption in BMC proliferated because of the SenaCongressNCP nexus There are several instances in which the BJP had opposed proposals that smacked of dirty deals The BJP did not hold any powerful position in the BMC whereas other parties came together to bulldoze their way into getting lucrative proposals approved in the standing committee