'Faced More Criticism After Trust Vote Than in My Entire Political Life': Devendra Fadnavis

New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke at the Hindustan Times Summit in New Delhi today.

Here are the highlights:

• I think in our quasi-federal structures, not just the centre but that states which have to perform.
• Of late, I see a sense of competitiveness amongst the states - to progress, to attract investment , to move forward.
• Like India, Maharashtra also has a human dividend - 57%  of the population in the state is below 25.
• On certain issues, we have to work in tandem with the central government.
• If the 'Make-in-India' dream has to come true, Maharashtra has to contribute.
• When I took over, in designated industrial areas, you needed 76 permissions to start a single unit and to get them, you needed one to three years.
• We have decided to bring down those 76 permissions to 20-odd and put them on a single IT platform... and a few months if you want to start a unit, you will be able to get permissions in 1 - 3 months.
• Maharashtra has decided we will be the biggest players in the digital India movement.
• 2015 will be Digital Service Year for Maharashtra.
• We will ensure e-governance at all levels.
• We have decided to have a Right to Service Act so that everyone in the government can be held accountable.
• All powers were in the Mantralaya. We don't need power - we need to empower the officers and hold them accountable.
• 25,000 villages in Maharashtra that are drought-prone.. we have decided to make the state drought-free in 5 years.
• We will be using technology to ensure farmers get relief when there is a drought.
• Once Maharashtra changes India will change.
• We will provide 24x7 power, Maharashtra would be load-shedding free.
• Urban infrastructure is a major issue - 50% of Maharashtra lives in 265 cities and the rest in 44K villages.
• We have fast-tracked all development projects of Mumbai.
• Very soon, you will see a makeover in Mumbai - yesterday I cleared 72 kilometres of two corridors of Metro rail.
• I'm perceived as a very soft person and I am soft. So when someone asked me about heading the administration, I said I can be ruthless as well. That was about being a tough administrator.
• In politics, we cannot say how long parleys will last...we have stopped speaking to the media on the talks but I can tell you that they'll reach a definite conclusion. 
• We neither said yes to NCP's support nor did we say no.
• The other alternative was to stand my ground in whatever situation I was in and let my action  speak louder than words.
• There will be no vindictiveness but whatever action needs to be taken will be taken (on investigation into scams)
  
• There are some cases in which there are blatant actionable errors in which we will act.
• There are some cases which appear morally wrong but are not legally actionable so we will put that before the public. 
• Faced more criticism in the three days after the vote of confidence than I have in 22 years of political life.
• Neither the Shiv Sena or the Congress had initially demanded a division of votes...when a motion is cleared and we have moved on, we can't come back...you can't get transparency by breaking established procedure.
• The average age of Maharashtra's population is 27 years and for this new generation, caste doesn't matter. What matters to them is development, education, jobs.
• Even today, caste plays a role in politics but it has reduced. So if we keep giving caste, religion importance then this generation will make us obsolete.
• RSS doesn't advise me on how to run the government, there is no question of that.
• For us Hindutva isn't a religion, that is a very narrow vision.
• When we meet RSS leaders, we talk about the country, not how to run government.
• Smaller states is part of the political ideology of my party.
• As chief minister of Maharashtra, my priority is to solve the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha.
• I have to work towards 'moisture security' in the region.
• Need centrally sponsored schemes to create a development standard in each state.
• The participation of the states in centrally-sponsored schemes is important...these schemes need the states' contribution - need to create instruments so that states that are debt-ridden can participate in these schemes.
• We have to work on East-West connectivity in Mumbai. But it is not just providing roads, we need to integrate our transport systems.
• I remember 2000 songs -- I can't sing but my wife can..so we complement each other.
• I had modelled for a garments in 2004 -- Atalji saw that  story on NDTV and called me... When I met him in Delhi, he patted me on my back and said, 'Aao Model MLA'.