Uddhav, Fadnavis take potshots at one another over Gadkari's non inclusion in BJP's 1st list

Mumbai: In a fresh round of tit-for-tat, Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray offered BJP’s Nitin Gadkari to contest the polls from the Maha Vikas Aghadi but within hours was snubbed by Devendra Fadnavis.

The name of Gadkari, a two-time MP from Nagpur and the Road Transport and Highways Minister in the Narendra Modi-government, does not figure in the first list of candidates announced by the BJP.

Addressing a public rally on Thursday evening, Thackeray, a former Chief Minister, said: “Don’t bow down before Delhi, kick the ego of Delhi.…come to Maha Vikas Aghadi…it is our responsibility to get you elected."

Ever since the first list was announced, Thackeray had been raising the issue of Gadkari’s non-inclusion and that of Kripashankar Singh, who faced charges of corruption and moved from Congress to BJP. Singh got the ticket from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

“I have worked with Gadkari who completed Balasaheb Thackeray's dream project Mumbai-Pune Expressway in record time. He is a senior and loyal BJP activist. But still he doesn't figure in the first list….I have known Gadkari as a senior leader much before Modi and Shah. But Singh, against whom BJP levelled charges of money laundering earlier, figures in the first list," Thackeray had said.

On Friday, Fadnavis, who is the Maharashtra deputy CM hit back, saying: “His party is facing ‘band-baaja’ (in a mess)…the president of the party’s offer to Gadkari is like a small-time person offering the post of US President. Gadkari saheb is a big leader, when Maharashtra list is declared, Gadkari ji’s name would be there. It was not there in the first list as seat-sharing discussions among the Maha Yuti partners were still under way."