Maharashtra: Uddhav Thackeray became Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday. (PTI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray offered his predecessor, the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, praise and criticism in equal measure during a speech in the Assembly on Sunday. While Mr Thackeray told the former Chief Minister he had "learnt a lot of things" from him, he also reminded the 49-year-old politician "if you had been good to us this (the BJP-Shiv Sena split) wouldn't have happened". However, in an apparent effort to mend the relationship between the Sena and its former ally, Mr Thackeray said Devendra Fadnavis was a "good friend" and he would "always be friends with him".
Earlier on Saturday power structures within the Maharashtra Assembly began to take shape with the unopposed election of Congress MLA Nana Patole as Speaker and that of Mr Fadnavis as Leader of the Opposition. To Mr Fadnavis's election, Uddhav Thackeray had a quip ready.
"I have learnt a lot of things from Devendra Fadnavis and I will always be friend with him. I won't call you (Mr Fadnavis) an 'Opposition' leader, but I will call you a 'responsible' leader," Uddhav Thackeray told the Assembly after Devendra Fadnavis's new role was announced.
Mr Thackeray said: "I welcome Devendra Fadnavis as the Leader of Opposition. We have been together from the past 25 years and I didn't expect this day to come".
Uddhav Thackeray, 59, sworn-in in a grand ceremony at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Thursday, also indicated he held Mr Fadnavis responsible for the breakup of the 'mahayuti' (the BJP-Sena alliance that disintegrated in the days and weeks after October's election over power-sharing issues; the BJP had refused to accede to the Sena's demand for rotational Chief Ministership.
Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis as Leader of Opposition
"If you had been good to us then all this (BJP-Sena split) would not have happened. I am still with the ideology of Hindutva and won't ever leave it. In the past 5 years, I've never betrayed the government," Mr Thackeray said.
Last month BJP leader Ashish Shelar hit out at the Sena after NCP leader Ajit Pawar's surprise switch and claimed the Sena had abandoned founder Bal Thackeray's ideology. Similar sentiments had also been expressed earlier by Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil.
Earlier Devendra Fadnavis had said that the Sena's Hindutva ideology "now rests at the feet of (Congress President) Sonia Gandhi".
Mr Thackeray, who called himself the "luckiest Chief Minister", also reserved a dig at the Devendra Fadnavis's secretive swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.
"In a way, I am the luckiest Chief Minister of Maharashtra because those who were in my opposition for last 25-30 years have now become my friends and those who were my friends are now in the opposition. So I honestly believe the opposition party will not exist now because the opposition party members are my friends," he said.
"I can assure this House and people of Maharashtra that I will not do anything at midnight. I will be working for the interests of the people," he added.
In his speech Mr Fadnavis reminded Uddhav Thackeray he would be expected to meet his own earlier demand of farmers' compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare of damaged crops.
Uddhav Thackeray held his first cabinet meeting on Thursday, mere hours after he was sworn-in, in a sign that he intends his government to mean business. Six ministers - two each from the Congress, the NCP and the Sena - were sworn-in alongside him.
With input from ANI