'Told PM and Shah that govt will be stable only if Shinde was CM'

Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on the first year of his government with Eknath Shinde, spoke about its accomplishments, the future of Mumbai, his growing bonhomie with the Pawars and why he will never reconcile with Uddhav Thackeray in an interview to Surendra Gangan and Meenal Baghel. Edited excerpts.

- Surendra Gangan and Meenal Baghel

INTERVIEW - DEVENDRA FADNAVIS, DEPUTY CM OF MAHARASHTRA

You came to power under exceptional circumstances. What have been the big wins in this one year?

Maharashtra which had come to a near standstill has been given a fresh momentum. Take Mumbai, for example, when I was the CM (2014-2019) I had given approval for 337km of metro but the Metro 3 (from SEEPZ in Andheri east to Colaba) was stalled after that. Work on the Mumbai Trans-harbor Link was slowed down, the bullet train project was stalled. We have removed all the roadblocks... There is not a single project that they (MVA) can showcase. But even more tragically, for 30 months that they were in power, the cabinet subcommittee on investment did not sit, not a single investment proposal was approved by them. Surely, Covid can't be held responsible for that. We have, in one year, cleared proposals for ₹1.5 lakh crore and MoUs for a similar amount are being negotiated.

In 2019, when your falling out happened with the Shiv Sena, was it only about the chief ministership? Four years on, you are in power with a faction of the Shiv Sena and a sainik, Shinde, is chief minister.

There had been no discussion (in 2019) about chief ministership for Uddhav Thackeray. It was clear that we were fighting the election under my leadership and Modiji, Amit bhai, Naddaji and he himself had said that Devendra Fadnavis would be CM. But he changed later (after a fractured mandate). Had we accepted his terms at that time, we would have looked like a weak party, we couldn't afford to be taken for granted. Politics is all about perception. It could have affected us in others states too.

You have said that Uddhav Thackeray refused to take your calls at that time. But if Amit Shah or PM Modi himself would have called, things could have been different perhaps?