Maharashtra Dy CM Eknath Shinde. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday (April 16, 2025) said he was the “pilot” and Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were “co-pilots” when the “development aircraft” of the previous Mahayuti government took off.
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The Shiv Sena president was speaking after the inauguration of an airport and a commercial passenger flight service in Amravati city of eastern Maharashtra.
Chief Minister Fadnavis and Pawar were also present.
The work of the Amravati airport started when Mr. Fadnavis was Chief Minister during 2014- 2019, but it came to a halt when the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition came to power in 2019, Mr. Shinde claimed.
When a “people’s government” (Mahayuti government led by him) came to power in 2022, the construction of the airport got completed speedily, he said.
Several projects, welfare schemes had been shut down and development had stalled before the Mahayuti government came, Shinde claimed in a veiled jibe at the MVA regime headed by Uddhav Thackeray.
“When development and welfare schemes took off, I was the pilot of the aircraft and Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were co-pilots. Now, Fadnavis is the pilot and the two of us are co-pilots. The pilot has changed now, but the ‘development aircraft’ is the same and we are moving forward at the same speed,” he added.
Published – April 17, 2025 07:52 am IST
