The political palaver over laying the foundation stone of the Pune Metro Rail project finally resolved itself with Pune Mayor and Nationalist Congress Party leader Prashant Jagtap announcing on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the project on December 24 and NCP chief Sharad Pawar would share the dais with him.
“The project will be inaugurated at the hands of the Prime Minister and Mr. Pawar will be present during the laying of the foundation stone,” Mr. Jagtap said.
Earlier, Mr. Jagtap had announced that Mr. Pawar would inaugurate the Pune Metro Rail on December 23 at 11 a.m. – a day before the Prime Minister’s visit to the city for the same programme.
The Blame-game
The mayor had made the announcement following the NCP’s claims of Mr. Pawar not being invited for the event.
A miffed NCP had accused the BJP of “attempting to appropriate credit” for the Pune Metro Rail project following Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ allegations that the erstwhile Congress-NCP government had completely failed to resolve Pune’s urban woes including problems f traffic and commute.
Sources said that the NCP’s backing down comes after Mr. Fadnavis’ personal mediation in the matter to defuse the brouhaha over the laying of the foundation stone.
Political observers however opine that the ‘alternative’ inauguration ceremony of December 23 was not seriously on the cards, and that the NCP’s proclamation was merely a political show of strength to counter the BJPs recent successes in the civic polls.
