From issues as far apart as setting up a nuclear power plant to contesting a cooperative bank election, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena, forming the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, find themselves arrayed against each other.
On Tuesday night, at a meeting organised to celebrate the party’s victory in the Mumbai by-election, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said his party would not let Jaitapur turn into a Fukushima. “Our delegation will soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the demand to stop work on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project. If Germany can close down nuclear plants, then why can’t we?” Mr. Thackeray said. The previous United Progressive Alliance government chose Jaitapur as the location for a 9,900-MW nuclear power plant, to be set up with six reactors provided by the French company Areva. The local people have been protesting against the project.
Mr. Thackeray’s call comes at a time when Mr. Modi completed his visit to France, with a few agreements signed to speed up the project work.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that his government will ensure that the project come up.
This is just one issue that divides the two parties. The election to the Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank, will pitch them against each other.
