MUMBAI: The Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, are not a cause for worry for the BJP. “We will win decisively,” said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in an interview with an online channel. “Thackeray is no longer a brand. There was only one Thackeray brand and that was late Balasaheb Thackeray.”In the interview aired on Friday, Fadnavis said if the Thackeray cousins had come together in 2009, it would have been a different result. “Now there is no gain in coming together. Their vote percentage is so low… neither the Marathi manoos nor the non-Marathi is going to vote for them. Therefore, we are not worried about their coming together,” he said, adding that the strongholds for Sena (UBT) and MNS overlap.
“Our votes never moved; they remained constant. Already there are differences between their party workers,” he said.On who would be mayor of Mumbai, Fadnavis said, “The mayor will be from the Mahayuti. He will be a Hindu and a Marathi.”Laying claim to the credit for various infrastructure works in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Fadnavis said the projects were not his idea, but they came to fruition only after he took over as CM. “Atal Setu was proposed by JRD Tata in 1962. Prithviraj Chauhan was CM, and he always said the coastal road was his favourite project. He had good relations with the Sena, and Manmohan Singh was the PM. He regularly went to Delhi but did nothing. I studied the projects, understood the problems, held at least five meetings with the Centre, and got clearances for the Atal Setu and coastal road. For the coastal road, I went right up to the Supreme Court and got it done,” he said.Fadnavis said, “Look at the development vision. We are time-tested… they have nothing to show for it. Merely because you make the neighbour’s son sit on your lap, it does not become yours. The coastal road did not happen till I came. They (Uddhav and Aditya Thackeray) are so small-minded… when the issue came up of who to give the road to do, Uddhavji said give it to BMC. I agreed, and one fine day, without informing me, he performed the bhoomipujan. I did not say anything. I was the CM; he held no constitutional post. All of Mumbai knows who did the coastal road, navigated the project…”
