Aaditya Thackeray, Ajit Pawar ‘insulted’ when they accompanied PM Modi: Sena, NCP

The Sena claimed that Aaditya was insulted when he went to receive the PM at INS Shikra, the helibase of Western Naval Command in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Jal Bhushan Building at Raj Bhawan, in Mumbai. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray , Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, State Ministers Ashok Chavan & Aditya Thackeray, and Leader of Opposition in State Assembly Devendra Fadnavis are also seen. (PTI Photo)

The Shiv Sena and NCP alleged on Tuesday that ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Ajit Pawar were insulted when they accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai and at Dehu near Pune, respectively.

The Sena claimed that Aaditya was insulted when he went to receive the PM at INS Shikra, the helibase of Western Naval Command in Mumbai. According to Sena leaders, the Special Protection Group, which is responsible for the PM’s security, objected to Aaditya travelling in Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s vehicle, which was a part of the Modi’s entourage from the helibase to Raj Bhavan.

The NCP, meanwhile, claimed that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was not allowed to speak in the presence of the PM at the inauguration of a shila (rock) temple at Sant Tukaram Maharaj Mandir in Dehu.

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Former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told The Indian Express, “Aadityaji went to the naval base as the protocol minister and was sitting in the CM’s car. The security personnel of the PM told him to get down from the car. The CM was very upset… Do the officers of the Union government not know the protocol? They have not insulted Aaditya Thackeray, they have insulted Maharashtra.”

A former chief protocol officer of the state government said any person can travel in the PM convoy and entourage provided the SPG allows.

NCP MP Supriya Sule, objecting to Pawar not being allowed to speak in Dehu, said, “Ajit Pawar is the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. He is the guardian minister of Pune and a NCP leader. I have checked with his office. They told me that his name was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to be included as one of the speakers. However, the PMO deliberately omitted his name.”

“Ajit dada was not allowed to speak…This is an insult to the people of Maharashtra. I am shocked, it is unfortunate and inappropriate,” she added.

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Devendra Fadnavis, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, spoke just before the PM delivered his speech.

Nitin More, who heads the Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Sansthan, Dehu, the main organiser of the event, said: “We had sent Ajit Pawar’s name as one of the speakers. But the protocol was decided by the PMO. We had no role to play in this matter.”

While NCP workers took to the streets to register their protest, a video footage released by a Marathi news channel showed the PM expressing surprise when the compere announced his name as the next speaker after Fadnavis. The footage showed the PM turning to Pawar and apparently asking him to address the crowd. But Pawar is seen urging the PM to take the centre stage.

“Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis was given an opportunity to speak at the Prime minister’s event at Dehu, but the state’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was not allowed to speak. This is an insult to Maharashtra,” Sule later tweeted.

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Sena MP Sanjay Raut said while Aaditya went to INS Shikra as a protocol minister, as per rule, he was allowed to be there. “In Pune, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar was not allowed to speak in the PM’s function. In Mumbai, the CM missed the PM’s convoy (as Aaditya was asked to get down from the car). The CM has already taken this issue up with the concerned authorities.”

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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