India, July 6 -- Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has responded to the swirling speculation that began soon after six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs last month defected to the ruling Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde. The buzz was that Shinde could replace Fadnavis as CM in the coming days: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray too had declared that 'Operation Tiger', the mission name for poaching on Sena (UBT) leaders, was actually 'Operation Fadnavis' under which Fadnavis could be shifted to Delhi and Shinde given his chair.

Speaking at a function organised by news channel Mumbai Tak on Wednesday, Fadnavis sought to dismiss the speculations. "In the state where a party needs 147 to win a simple majority (in the assembly), we h...