Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis acknowledged on Thursday that the Mahayuti alliance had received a higher number of seats than they expected in the state Assembly elections. While speaking at the India Economic Conclave hosted by Times Network, Fadnavis attributed the success to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan “Ek hai toh safe hai,” which he described as having worked “magic” in the state.
On winning 132 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Fadnavis said, “I knew that they (Mahayuti) were going to win the elections but if we are expecting that I will say I knew that we (BJP) are going to win the 132 seats but this is wrong he did not know that we are going to win huge number of seats. We got higher numbers than we expected.”
As per the report by news agency ANI, he also addressed the Yuti alliance’s previous setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections, attributing them to a “fake narrative” propagated by the Opposition. “There are two things that are important, we have consistently performed well in Maharashtra but somehow in Lok Sabha elections performance was not that good, so first we analysed the Lok Sabha elections results and found that except these three parties (NCP-SCP, Shiv Sena UBT, Congress) that fourth party behind our loss was fake narrative. We could not compete the way we should have. We worked on that in these elections. We brought good government schemes,” he added.
‘Ek Hai Toh Safe Hai’ Slogan Did Magic In Maharashtra: Fadnavis
Reacting over PM Modi’s slogan of ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe hai’, he added, “In the background of this when PM Modi gave the slogan of ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe hai’, I believe this slogan did magic in Maharashtra. People responded on ‘Ek Hai Toh Safe hai’ and voted in huge numbers and we won the assembly polls.”
During the election campaign in November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the slogan ‘Ek hain toh safe hain,’ which Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hailed as the nation’s new “maha-mantra.”
“This mantra has taught a lesson to those who propagate division. It has punished them. Tribals, OBCs, Dalits, and every section of society have rallied behind the BJP-NDA. This is a strong rebuttal to the Congress and INDI alliance’s divisive agenda,” he remarked.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the state cabinet expansion is scheduled for December 14. Fadnavis confirmed that the formula for the expansion has already been finalised and will soon be revealed to the public.
On December 5, Fadnavis was sworn in as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, while Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.
The 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections saw a commanding victory for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, which secured 235 seats. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 132 seats, while the Shiv Sena and NCP secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively, marking a major milestone for the coalition.
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