MNS chief faults Sena’s stand on Jaitapur project

The Shiv Sena should stop equivocating over the controversy-ridden Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in Maharashtra’s Konkan region and spell out its stance clearly, said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday.

Lashing out at the Sena’s ‘show of solidarity’ with the people affected by the project, Mr. Raj Thackeray said that how could the Sena, a partner in the BJP-led coalition in the State, oppose its own government over the Jaitapur project.

“It is high time the Shiv Sena stopped playing petty politics over the Jaitapur project. It ought to renounce its ambivalence and clearly spell out its reasons for opposing the project,” said Mr. Thackeray, speaking in Ratnagiri during his tour of the Konkan.

Accusing the Sena of stymieing development in the State, the MNS chief said the Sena’s so-called environmental concerns “lacked any scientific basis.”

The Sena, led by Raj Thackeray’s cousin Uddhav, has been the MNS chief’s arch-rival ever since he broke away from its fold in 2006 to found his own nationalist, right-wing party.

The MNS chief is against the Sena’s critical stance on the 9,900 MW project in Ratnagiri district, where the French multinational company Areva, specialising in nuclear and renewable energy, is to set up six nuclear reactors.

The Sena, vehemently opposed to the BJP’s decision to push through with the project, has cautioned about the resulting damage to the environment while allying itself with local fishermen and mango farmers on whose lands the project will come up.