Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday thanked NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray for effusively praising him in a coffee table book released on his birthday, saying they were his ideological opponents, not enemies.
Governor C P Radhakrishnan released the coffee table book titled 'Maharashtra Nayak' on Fadnavis at Raj Bhavan to mark the CM's 55th birthday.
Asked about the remarks made by Thackeray and Pawar, his political opponents and former CMs, in the book about his zeal and passion towards work, Fadnavis, who belongs to their rival party BJP, said he was thankful to them for their effusive praise.
"We are ideological opponents and not enemies," the CM insisted while speaking to reporters in Nagpur, his hometown.
"Sharad Pawar is a large-hearted and senior leader. His comments are priceless for me," he said.
In the book, Pawar (84) has written that when he sees Fadnavis, it reminds him of the time when he himself became Maharashtra's Chief Minister for the first time in 1978.
Pawar was just 38 when he became CM, making him the youngest politician to occupy the top post in the state.
The Rajya Sabha member noted that Fadnavis was knowledgeable and has a strong grip on the state administration.
In a lighter vein, the former Union minister likened his own body structure to Fadnavis, saying the "similarity of being on the heavier side was never a deterrent to work hard. How doesn't he get tired, I wonder." Thackeray, in his piece in the book, has described Fadnavis as a studious and loyal politician, who has succeeded in strengthening his party in Maharashtra, which was once a Congress stronghold.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, a former CM, has written that Fadnavis has a chance of getting a bigger role at the national level and wished him well for the future.
Fadnavis, a three-time chief minister, assumed the top office for the first time in 2014 at the age of 44, making him the second-youngest CM in Maharashtra's history after Pawar.
He is also the BJP's first chief minister of Maharashtra and his rise to the top position reflects the saffron outfit's growing support base in a state where the Congress once ruled the roost.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
