I see MNS as main opposition in long-term: Ashok Chavan

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When Ashok Chavan was appointed as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra he was little known outside of political circles and his own State. In the last few months, he has become one of India's most high profile Chief Minister. The profile is partly a consequence of the strong stand he took.

Will he demonstrate against the Shiv Sena? Is that political will his own and will it last? In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Ashok Chavan discusses the factionalism within the Mumbai Police force, 26/11 and the possibility of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) merging back in to the Congress.

Below is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive interview with Ashok Chavan on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: I began by introducing you as a man who took on the Shiv Sena, I am going to take you back and give you an opportunity to try and explain it to us what it was like because we have seen the odd sound bytes and explanation. From the layman's perspective all of this started because of your own fault because you issued a directive saying that taxi drivers. I will tell you what people say and you can correct me. Taxi drivers in Maharashtra should speak Marathi. People saw the press note and sound bytes of you saying it on the television. The next day you said it was Marathi and local language. The general view was that having tried to play the Maharashtrian card you had been perhaps rapped on your knuckles by Delhi and now backtracking. Is this accurate?

A: Let me correct you. Delhi had no role in this.

Q: No role at all?

A: No role at all, it was purely our decision. The problem was that we had a number of taxi permits lying dormant. They were lapsed and were not been used at all. So the decision was to review the old taxi permits which were lying dormant or lapsed for number of years.

Second, we have a Motor Vehicles Act. Whenever we give a taxi permit to a person, it is governed by Motor Vehicles Act who is eligible to get a permit. So Motor Vehicles Act is a Central government's act and not of State government's act. In Maharashtra, the Motor Vehicles Act says he should have a working knowledge of Marathi plus any one local language. So it was Marathi.

When it was asked, I told he should a working knowledge of Marathi. They asked me if this is a correction version. He should know Marathi plus a working knowledge of any one local language. So local language can be Hindi or Gujarati. The decision was to again allow fleet taxis to have permits and the person who drives the taxi should have knowledge of Marathi, Hindi or Gujarati.

Q: Does the act say Marathi plus a local language or does it say Marathi or a language?

A: Marathi and any one local language. I don't have to be a perfect person who understands Marathi, speak fluent Marathi.