Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar on Sunday conducted a joint press conference ahead of the Budget session. The conference witnessed some light moments between Deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde. While teasing Pawar, Shinde said, 'Fadanvis and I have exchanged the chair (CM and Deputy CM posts) but Ajit dada's chair (Deputy Chief Minister post) is fixed. To this Ajit Pawar jokingly responded, 'you could not keep your chair (CM post) fixed..'
The Budget Session of the Maharashtra legislature will begin from Monday. Budget for 2025-26 will be presented on March 10. It will the first full fledged session for the government as the winter session in Nagpur was held without ministers being sworn in.
Eknath Shinde responds to 'cold war' reports
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar says, "The opposition did not attend the meeting today ahead of the Budget Session. The opposition has sent us a letter...we will definitely try to run this session smoothly." Deputy CM Eknath Shinde says, "This is the second session of our government. Only we (Devendra Fadnavis and I) have changed roles. But yes, Ajit Dada's role is constant...We have started many projects which were stopped by the MVA government. Ajit Dada will present the Maharashtra budget. No matter how many breaking news you give, we (Mahayuti) will not break. What is cold war? There is nothing like that. In this scorching heat of Maharashtra... how is a cold war possible?.."
The budget session is expected to be quite fierce as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi would try to corner the government over embattled ministers Dhananjay Munde and Manikrao Kokate. The opposition also did not attend the 'Chahapan' (snack meeting before the budget session) held today.
'Opposition is 'Hum aapke hai kaun?'
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis says, "The budget session is going to start tomorrow. The Opposition has given us a 9-page letter. The situation in the Opposition is 'Hum aapke hai kaun?', not 'Hum Sath Sath hain'. They had an opportunity for fluent conversation, but they did not attend the 'Chahapan' (snack meeting before the budget session). The letter they gave us is only based on newspaper articles. We will give the Opposition a long time to speak in House..."