NEW DELHI, June 14: The Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday took strong exception to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) refusing permission to the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar speak at an event attended by the prime minister Narendra Modi.
The NCP leader and Member of Parliament from the state Supriya Sule termed it as an “insult to Maharashtra” and the party workers staged a demonstration in Amravati in protest against the PMO’s action.
Sule said Pawar was “denied permission” by the PMO to speak in the presence of Modi at a temple inauguration event in Dehu near Pune city while the BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, was allowed to address the gathering. The prime minister inaugurated a shila (rock) temple at the Sant Tukaram Maharaj Mandir dedicated to the 17th-century saint in Dehu. Fadnavis spoke just before Modi delivered his speech at the programme.
Talking to reporters in Amravati, Sule said Pawar, a senior NCP leader, had requested the PMO to allow him to speak at the event. She said as the Guardian Minister of Pune district and Deputy Chief Minister, Pawar had received Modi at the Lohegaon airport on his arrival.
“Dada’s (Ajit Pawar) office had requested that he be allowed to speak because he is the Deputy CM and Pune district guardian minister. But the PMO declined permission to Dada to give his speech,” Sule said, adding she was sharing this information after verifying it from Pawar’s office.
“This is an insult to Maharashtra. If our Deputy CM is on the stage then it is his right to speak,” said the Member of Parliament from Baramati in the Pune district. “Whether to allow Fadnavis to speak is their internal matter but Ajit Pawar should have been allowed to speak at the Dehu event,” the NCP leader said.
She maintained the incident was very hurtful, shocking and distressing. “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.
NCP legislator Amol Mitkari, too, concurred with Sule’s views. In the Amravati district, Sule and NCP workers staged a protest and raised slogans against the Central government over the issue.
(Manas Dasgupta)
