“We were deficient in the political arithmetic in the LS polls. I didn’t ask (party leadership) to relieve me out of frustration. I am not an individual who will run away without fighting. Our inspiration is Shivrai (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) who, when cornered from all side made a treaty and later won all the forts he had lost,” he said.

“If anyone thought I was frustrated and spoke emotionally, then it is not true. I definitely had a strategy in my mind. I met Amit Shah and told him about my plan. He told me that we will make a blueprint,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t rest for a minute while preparing for the next battle. Fadnavis said the BJP was up against four parties, not just three in the MVA. The fourth was a false narrative about the BJP’s plan to change the Constitution.  “The narrative did not work. If it had worked, the BJP wouldn’t have got 44 per cent votes which are higher than 2019,” he said.