- Devendra Fadnavis finds it easy to handle Eknath Shinde due to shared emotional traits
- Fadnavis describes Uddhav Thackeray as unpredictable and difficult to work with
- Fadnavis was CM in alliance with Shiv Sena led by Thackeray before 2019 elections
Comparing his experience of working with Uddhav Thackeray and his lieutenant-turned-rival Eknath Shinde, Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has said it is easy to handle Shinde, but quite difficult to work with Thackeray.
The Chief Minister was speaking to NDTV's CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Rahul Kanwal, Managing Editor Padmaja Joshi, and Executive Editor Jitendra Dixit at NDTV's Power Play on the upcoming election to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Fadnavis has worked with both Shinde and Thackeray as part of an alliance, and Rahul Kanwal asked him how different his experience of handling these two leaders was.
"Handling Shinde ji is easy because he is an emotional man. I am emotional too, so we hit it out well. But I am more practical than him. If you understand his emotional side, it is easy to handle him. As for Uddhav ji, he is unpredictable. I will have to appoint a researcher to understand him, so handling him is difficult," Fadnavis said.
The first term of Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister was in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena, then led by Uddhav Thackeray. After the 2019 state polls, Thackeray walked out of the NDA and formed a government in alliance with NCP and Congress. In 2022, a mutiny led by Sena leader Eknath Shinde split the party and toppled the Thackeray-led government. Shinde joined the NDA government and became Chief Minister. After the NDA was re-elected in the state polls last year, Fadnavis became Chief Minister, and Shinde his deputy.
Responding to a question on whether there is a tussle within the NDA alliance, he said, "We are in a stable alliance; we will be together for five years after this as well." He said Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde often travels to Delhi to meet his grandson, and these trips are interpreted as signs of trouble within the alliance. "He is going to Delhi and meeting leaders of the BJP. I will be worried if he meets leaders of another party," Fadnavis said.
