In an important statement, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said that it was after his phone call that legislator Bachchu Kadu went to Guwahati.
It may be mentioned that when Eknath Shinde led the rebellion against Shiv Sena President and then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, he initially went to Gujarat and then left for Guwahati where all the rebels re-grouped.
Fadnavis’ statement came in reference to the war of words between Kadu, the Achalpur MLA of Prahar Janshakti Party and Ravi Rana, an Independent MLA from Badnera.
Rana had accused Kadu of “pannas khokhe” to switch sides.
To a question about the dispute, Fadnavis: “It was after a phone call from my side that Bachchu Kadu left for Guwahati. I called him and told him we need your support and participation in the formation of the new government. I told him to be part of our group. Thus, he went there and joined.”
In fact, Kadu was a minister of state in the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and handled a dozen portfolios.
Fadnavis went on to add that it would be wrong if anyone accuses him of any “deal”. “He went there because of my call…I can’t say about others, but that does not mean that others had made some deal…the only one who joined on my call is Bacchu Kadu,” he said, adding that others who joined had joined because of the faith that they have in Shinde.
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