“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not established to make anyone the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister and hence never faced an internal division,” said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on April 6.
The senior BJP claimed that theirs is the only national party in the country's history that has not experienced a split.
Addressing his party workers during an event, in Nagpur, to mark the 44th foundation day of the BJP, Mr. Fadnavis asked the cadres to work as the soldiers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed country.
“From leaders including Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to PM Modi, all have worked to grow the party,” he said. “BJP leaders were never self-centred or selfish,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
“This party was never made for making anyone the Prime Minister or Chief Minister or any other post but was established to create an ideology that will serve the nation's interests. This party always worked as per its ideology and never experienced divisions,” he claimed.
In recent years, Bal Thackeray-established Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar-founded Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) witnessed divisions after internal turmoils.
“PM Modi has created a strong and developed image of India in the global arena,” said the Deputy CM, stressing that Mr. Modi and the BJP are the future of the country. He asked the BJP cadres to work for PM Modi and the country to realise the Viksit Bharat (developed India) vision.
Later, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the programme, Mr. Fadnavis took a jibe at the Opposition groupings Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and INDIA bloc, likening them to a train with an engine but no compartments. “Everyone is going their way with no consensus among the constituents,” he claimed.
Mr. Fadnavis also asserted that Shiv Sena’s Kalyan sitting MP Shrikant Shinde would be re-nominated from the same Lok Sabha constituency as the Mahayuti candidate.
Mahayuti is the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, comprising BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the NCP under Ajit Pawar. Shrikant Shinde is the son Eknath Shinde.
