"I'm Human": D Fadnavis After Uddhav Thackeray's "Clip Wings" Remark

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sounded bemused today when asked about Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray's clip wings remark. Thackeray had said that with Fadnavis in the race for the Prime Minister's post, "his wings are being clipped", and because of this, he was looking "helpless" in the airplane. The two leaders were on the same Mumbai-Nagpur flight on Friday.

"I was sitting in a corner," Fadnavis responded when asked about the matter. 

"It is my habit that whenever I board a flight, I have something downloaded on my mobile. It could be a movie or a series on an OTT platform. I watch that. So, from the time it started until we landed, I was watching that. So, where exactly did he see my helplessness?" he added.

"Secondly, being a human, I do not even have wings, so who is going to clip my wings? But I do have the blessings of the 14 crore people of Maharashtra with me, and I have the blessings of my seniors. So, they should not worry at all," he said.

Then came a mild jibe - "Uddhav-ji's good wishes - I accept them. If these were there in 2019, the picture would have been different, but at that time they couldn't give them, so I accept his good wishes today," he added.

"Operation Tiger" is the Shiv Sena UBT's tag for the latest split in the party, which Tem Thackeray claims, has been engineered by the BJP. Six of the faction's nine MPs have split and joined the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde last week.

On Saturday, Thackeray had alleged that the breaking of the party was not an "Operation Tiger" orchestrated by Eknath Shinde but an "Operation Devendra" masterminded by the BJP leadership to clip Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's wings.

"This is not Operation Tiger, this is an operation to clip Fadnavis' wings. This is an effort to clip wings of anyone who can become a contender for the Prime Minister's post," he had said. 

He questioned the political logic of the MPs joining Eknath Shinde's faction -- mocking it as the subservient Sena -- rather than directly merging with the BJP. This, he said, hinted at a deeper conspiracy within the National Democratic Alliance targeting Maharashtra's leadership.