Shinde meets BJP top brass amid Guv row
MUMBAI: Amid the growing demand to recall Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and the border escalation with Karnataka, chief minister Eknath Shinde met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda and a host of other senior leaders in New Delhi on Monday.
Shinde, who is otherwise vocal on every issue, chose not to speak to the media in the national capital. It is, however, said that he is under pressure from his own colleagues to force the BJP to remove Koshyari for his many controversies objectionable remarks on King Shivaji being the latest.
The opposition has also accused the CM of not taking a tough stand despite his Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai staking claim to several villages in Maharashtra. What compounded the situation was that two state ministers had to cancel their scheduled tour of Belgavi on December 6 following an advisory from the Karnataka government that the duo would not be allowed there.
After returning from a test drive on the Mumbai-nagpur Super Communication Expressway, Shinde left for Delhi on Sunday evening and later, met union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. On Monday, he had meetings with Nadda, union minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi, and
BJP national secretary BL Santhosh among others. In the evening, he attended an allparty meeting called by prime minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Shinde returned to the city late on Monday night.
The controversy over the Maratha King started after the governor said at a function that he was the idol of the past era and now the state had new idols - from BR Ambedkar to Nitin Gadkari. This sparked protests by opposition parties, Maratha outfits, and even descendants of the 16th century warrior.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis indicated that the two ministers - Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai would not visit Belgavi.
“No one can stop us from visiting Belgavi but the question is do we need to create an issue on Mahaparinirwan Diwas, which is very important to us? Hence, we are thinking about something... Primarily we believe that it is a big day for us and any protest or untoward incident should be avoided. We [Maharashtra ministers] can go later as well,” Fadnavis said.
The opposition has slammed the state for surrendering before the Karnataka government. “When are we going to realise that Maharashtra has a CM? Our ministers were supposed to visit Karnataka but cancelled it after its CM raised objections. I have never seen such a sheepish government,” Uddhav Thackeray, former CM and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief, said.