NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Though the two always shared a common bond and known to be close friends beyond politics, eye-brows have been raised over the National Congress Party chief showering unstinted praises on the BJP leader and the union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari amidst talks of strains between the partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
“I am attending this function because I was told that (Mr) Gadkari was going to inaugurate many projects in Ahmednagar which would solve long-pending issues of the city, and he wants me to be present,” Pawar said as two leaders from rival parties shared the dais at a function at Ahmednagar in their home state of Maharashtra. The NCP is one of the partners of the three-party MVA government headed by Shiv Sena with the Congress being the third partner with the BJP the principal opposition party.
“(Mr) Gadkari is a great example of how a people’s representative can work for the development of the country,” Pawar added. “I remember that before Gadkari took over this responsibility (of the ministry of road transport and highways), about 5,000 km of work had been done. But after he took over, the figure has crossed 12,000 km,” the NCP chief said at the inauguration project at Ahmednagar in the presence of Gadkari.
Pawar said most of the times nothing happens after the stone-laying ceremony of a project is over but this is not true for a project that Gadkari is overseeing. “But when it comes to Gadkari’s projects, within a few days of the function one sees the work starting,” Pawar said.
Gadkari and Sharad Pawar share a close bond beyond politics on which Gadkari spoke on an earlier occasion. “Once (Samajwadi Party leader) Mulayam Singh asked me how was it that I and Sharad Pawar were seen together at Murli Manohar Joshi’s felicitation in Parliament though we are from rival parties. I told him that in Maharashtra, politics happens only during elections, afterwards we become friends,” Gadkari had said.
The former Union agriculture minister advised farmers in the region that the use of sugarcane will not remain limited only to sugar production and they should think of it as the raw material for ethanol too. One of Nitin Gadkari’s next projects is to make it mandatory for all vehicle manufacturers to make flex-fuel engines which would have the option of running on ethanol-based fuel.
In his speech, Gadkari said while executing road projects in Buldhana district of Maharashtra, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also de-silted local rivers and streams. “I suggest (Maharashtra Rural Development Minister) Hasan Mushrif to think of focusing on water conservation in Ahmednagar district,” he said. Mushrif, an NCP leader who is also the guardian minister of the parched Ahmednagar district, was present at the function.
(Manas Dasgupta)