Shiv Sainiks target Khambataki function

Led by Sena district unit chief Narendra Patil, the Sainiks tore off a velvet curtain over the marble plaque, broke five coconuts and dug up the land earmarked for bhoomipujan.

Incidentally, the multi-crore tunnel is being seen as another attempt by the saffron alliance to make inroads into Congress-dominated western Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena leaders in Satara were not taken into confidence by the BJP men while finalising the function, Patil said later. 8220;It was a government function and the State is being ruled by the Shiv Sena,8221; he fumed.

Local BJP workers had everything under control by the time the minister8217;s convoy reached the venue. The bhoomipujan was performed by Gadkari, though he was half an hour behind schedule.

Speaking to newspersons later, Gadkari played down the incident. He said he did not attach any significance to what had happened. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation MSRDC would soon initiate the work on the Pune-Satara stretch of the national highway IV besides the survey of a road between Satara and Kagal Kolhapur district to undertake work on the four-lane highway, right from Mumbai to the Karnataka border. The alternate link would be completed by Diwali, he said.

Stating that the link, first designed in 1967, could not be completed due to the paucity of funds, Gadkari said the MSRDC could initiate several works amounting to the crores of rupees because of privatisation. He said the government had to opt for privatisation.