Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has decided to skip Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s project inaugurations on Tuesday in Kalyan and Pune. The move is confirming the rift between the National Democratic Alliance and the Shiv Sena. It is considered as a return gift to the earlier snub by the BJP during the groundbreaking ceremony by Udhav Thackeray.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to begin his program in Mumbai with laying the foundation stone for the Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro-5 and Dahisar-Mira Bhayander Metro-9 at Kalyan. Modi will then proceed to Pune, where he will lay the foundation stone for the third Metro line between Hinjewadi and Shivajinagar. These two projects mark the inauguration of the infrastructure and housing projects worth about Rs.41, 000 crores in the state.
Prime Minister Modi will also attend a function organized in memory of legendary cartoonist late R K Laxman. At the function, Modi is scheduled to release a book titled Timeless Laxman based on the life and little-known facets of R K Laxman.
Political observers feel that the rift between the BJP and the Shiv Sena has widened further after the BJP lost the recent assembly elections. The BJP missing the Bhoomi Poojan by Uddhav Thackeray for Rs 12,000-crore coastal road project in Mumbai is another reason for the widening gap between the two parties.
Sena mouthpiece Saamana congratulated Rahul Gandhi on his party’s win in Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh and had said the states were now ‘BJP-mukt’.
The editorial had criticized the BJP saying that they were all the time busy with their global affairs while the farmers were suffering, unemployment increased and inflation skyrocketed.
Udhav Thackeray had also attacked the BJP for not fulfilling its 2014 poll promise of constructing a Ram Temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site. The Shiv Sena may also play the Hindutva card during the coming General Elections quoting BJP’s inability to fulfil their 2014 poll promise.