'Balasaheb must be blessing me': Fadnavis on Thackeray reunion; takes 'rudali' swipe at Uddhav's speech

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday took a jibe at MNS chief Raj Thackeray for claiming Fadnavis played a part in reuniting the Thackeray cousins. “Balasaheb Thackeray must be blessing me,” Fadnavis said.Raj Thackeray, speaking at a rally with his cousin Uddhav earlier in the day, credited Fadnavis for managing to bring the cousins on the same stage — something, he joked, not even Bal Thackeray could do.Fadnavis further mocked Uddhav Thackeray's speech at the joint rally, calling it a "rudali" act rather than a victory celebration. The word "rudali" refers to women hired to cry at funerals in parts of Rajasthan.Fadnavis said, “I was told it was supposed to be a 'vijay' rally, but it turned out to be a 'rudali' speech.”

The Maharashtra CM said he was surprised that Uddhav’s speech focused less on the language issue and more on the fall of his government and how he planned to come back to power.The rally was organised in Mumbai to celebrate the Maharashtra government’s decision to roll back two government resolutions that had introduced Hindi as a third language from Class 1 in state-run schools.Fadnavis further criticised the Shiv Sena for failing to bring development to Mumbai during its 25-year rule of the BMC. "We gave Marathi people their rightful homes at BDD and Patra chawls (tenements), which made them jealous," he claimed.