Pawar’s ‘Ganapati Darshan’ at Thackeray house
NCP chief Sharad Pawar is not known as someone who makes much ado about religion in public life. He is rarely seen making publicised trips to religious places or events. However, surprisingly, the NCP chief and his family recently visited Uddhav Thackeray’s house to pay reverence to Ganpati Bappa. Pawar, his wife, daughter Supriya Sule, son-in-law Sadanand Sule and other members of his family visited the Maharashtra CM’s house on the last day of the Ganesh festival. The pictures of the visit and Pawar’s Ganpati Darshan were shared widely on social media. According to one NCP leader, Pawar wants to send the message that he is standing solidly with the Thackeray family .
Kangana’s comments help ruling alliance
The Maha Vikas Aghadi has been on the defensive over the Sushant Singh Rajput case, first when Bihar Police registered an FIR and then with CBI and other agencies taking the lead in the probe. However, Kangana Ranaut’s controversial comment calling Mumbai as PoK has given the MVA a chance to seize back the issue and score some brownie points. The comments by Ranaut, who enjoys BJP’s support, has served the ‘Marathi Manoos’ agenda on a platter to the ruling alliance. All three partners of MVA decided to blow this issue for their benefit and garner sympathy. It has also put the BJP on backfoot and its senior leader Ashish Shelar had to distance the party from statements made by Ranaut and MLA Ram Kadam.
Khadse blames Fadnavis for ‘fall from grace’
It seems estranged BJP leader Eknath Khadse has not forgiven erstwhile CM Devendra Fadnavis yet for being forced to resign as a minister in 2016. Khadse recently expressed his anger towards Fadnavis again. The former minister also blamed Fadnavis for damaging his hard-earned political career by plotting with hacker Manish Bangale. Fadnavis had met with Bangale with Congress leader Kripashanker Singh at CM’s official residence Varsha Bungalow at 1.00 am, he claimed. Bhangale has claimed that Khadse’s mobile number was one of the frequently called numbers from gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s Karachi based residence. However, these allegations were not proved and Maharashtra ATS had given Khadse a clean chit later.
Mhaisekar gains prominence, Mehta sidelined
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray had appointed former chief secretary Ajoy Mehta as his advisor recently to manoeuvre through this Covid crisis and handle it in a better way. However, Mehta who was touted very close to Thackeray now seems to have been sidelined and another advisor Dr Deepak Mhaisekar has been appointed to control the rising cases and coordinate with central health and other departments. Mhaisekar was the Pune Divisional Commissioner and was at the forefront in the battle against the pandemic before retiring on July 31.
Sudhir Suryawanshi
Our correspondent in Maharashtra suryawanshi.sudhir@gmail.com