While emphasising the strong ties between the Shiv Sena and the Konkan region, Sena president and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday cautiously avoided commenting on the contentious Nanar refinery project in Ratnagiri district.
Mr. Thackeray started a two-day visit to Konkan, his first visit to the region since becoming Chief Minister, on Monday. “Together with the Konkan region, we will create a new Maharashtra,” he said during a groundbreaking ceremony in Ganapatipule in Ratnagiri.
The Chief Minister avoided making any remarks on the Nanar refinery project and whether his party, which has been vehemently opposed to the project, would stick by its stand.
Saamana advertisement
The Sena had opposed the Ratnagiri Refinery Petrochemical Limited, commonly known as the Nanar refinery project, when it was in power with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the State.
However, an advertisement for the project in the Konkan edition of Saamana , the Sena’s mouthpiece, has raised eyebrows and irked the residents of Nanar, who have threatened agitations if the party does a volte face on its promise to scrap the project.
Speaking earlier in Dhule, Industries Minister Subhash Desai said, “Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is not a person to change his stance. We have cancelled the notification for the Nanar refinery project. No other party has gone to this extent. The Sena has not changed its stance on the project.”
Not all was smooth on the first day of the Chief Minister’s tour, as he had cope with fractiousness within his own party and criticism from the Opposition in the form of his bête noire, Konkan BJP leader and ex-Shiv Sainik Narayan Rane.
Mr. Rane, a former chief minister, accused Mr. Thackeray of duplicity over the Nanar project, while alleging that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and the Chief Minister’s Office were a wellspring of corruption. “This government is not pushing any development projects, but halting all previous ones initiated by the erstwhile BJP government. Uddhav Thackeray has shown his double standards over Nanar by first opposing it and now permitting [its] advertisements in Saamna ,” Mr. Rane said.
He questioned the CM’s silence over the matter and asked why Mr. Thackeray had refused to meet anxious Nanar residents despite promising never to permit the refinery to come up.
Unhappy MLA
Meanwhile, Mr. Thackeray’s event in Ganapatipule was marred by Sena MLA from Ratnagiri Bhaskar Jadhav refusing to join in the felicitation ceremony for the Chief Minister.
Despite Mr. Thackeray personally requesting him, Mr. Jadhav, a former NCP leader and erstwhile guardian minister of Ratnagiri, refused to participate. He angrily warded off the attempts of Sena MP Vinayak Raut and Mr. Thackeray’s political secretary, Milind Narvekar, to include him.
Mr. Jadhav, who has been disgruntled for not getting a Cabinet berth, took umbrage at the fact that he was seated at the far end during the ceremony. In December last year, Mr. Jadhav had openly expressed shock at his exclusion from the Cabinet.
