Pawar and Shinde minister travel together, raise eyebrows
Both Shinde and Fadnavis denied any cracks in the alliance, the pictures of political opponents Pawar and Patil travelling together in a train went viral on Thursday. The NCP chief was going to Jalgaon to attend a one-day workshop of party workers at Amalner
Mumbai: Even as the dust settles on the advertisement controversy that created a rift between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP, another incident raised eyebrows in political circles. State water supply and sanitation minister Gulabrao Patil of the Sena completed a train journey with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar from Mumbai to Jalgaon on Thursday.
The development assumes significance against the backdrop of the fissures in the ruling alliance on account of the full-page advertisement that was run on Tuesday in all major newspapers. Headlined ‘Modi for India, Shinde for Maharashtra’, it carried a survey report that projected Shinde as more popular than deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The BJP had projected Fadnavis as the face of the state unit of the party in the 2019 elections through similar advertisements.
Even as both Shinde and Fadnavis denied any cracks in the alliance, the pictures of political opponents Pawar and Patil travelling together in a train went viral on Thursday. The NCP chief was going to Jalgaon to attend a one-day workshop of party workers at Amalner. The Shiv Sena minister was also travelling in the same coach, and when he learned that Pawar was in the train, he went to meet him and they travelled together till Jalgaon, it is learnt.
Before this, state industries minister Uday Samant had also met the veteran NCP leader twice to apprise him about the police action and government’s stand on protests against the proposed oil refinery at Ratnagiri.
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