NAGPUR/MUMBAI, March 31: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday dismissed speculation about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successor, asserting that Modi would continue to lead the country for many more years.
Responding to Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut’s claim that Modi went to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on Sunday to convey the message that he is retiring, Fadnavis told reporters in Nagpur, “In 2029, we will see Modi as the prime minister again.”
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, senior RSS leader Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi said he is not aware of any talk of (PM’s) replacement.
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“There is no need to search for his successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue,” Fadnavis said. Discussing succession while the leader is active is inappropriate in Indian culture, the CM added.
“In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The time has not come to discuss it,” he said, referring to Raut’s claim that Modi’s successor would come from Maharashtra.
Talking to reporters on Monday, Raut claimed that the RSS wants a change in the political leadership in the country.
“He (Modi) probably went to RSS headquarters to write his retirement application in September,” Raut claimed, alluding to some leaders in the ruling dispensation retiring at 75. Modi turns 75 in September this year.
Asked about Raut’s claim that RSS will select PM Modi’s successor from Maharashtra, Bhaiyyaji Joshi said, “I don’t have any such information.”
On Modi’s visit to Dr Hedgewar Smruti Mandir in RSS headquarters, Joshi said, “Yesterday’s programmes went well. We all are happy. His (Modi’s) interest in service was evident during the COVID period.
“I feel that his coming here yesterday and laying the foundation stone for Madhav Netralaya centre building has elevated the institute’s stature. Similarly, his visit as a swayamsevak (RSS volunteer) to Reshimbagh on the occasion of Sangh founder K B Hedgewar’s birth anniversary was very nice,” Joshi said.
The RSS headquarters in Mahal area and Dr Hedgewar Smruti Mandir at Reshimbagh are among the hallowed institutions of the Sangh.
In his first visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur after becoming the prime minister 11 years ago, Modi on Sunday described the Sangh as the banyan tree’ of India’s immortal culture.
Modi became the second sitting PM to visit the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited it in 2000 during his third term as PM, an RSS official said. This is also Modi’s third term in the top post. (PTI)
