Fadnavis buries the hatchet with rival Pankaja Munde in Beed? shares dais, attacks MVA for delaying railway projects in Maharashtra

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Mumbai: In an apparent indication of burying the hatchet with rival Pankaja Munde by sharing the dais while inaugurating the New Ashti-Ahmednagar railway line in Beed district, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government responsible for the tardiness in completing railway projects in the State,

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister on Friday claimed that all railway projects in Maharashtra fell by the wayside as the MVA government had not been ready to adhere to the 50:50 fund-sharing formula between the Centre and State governments. 

Speaking during the inauguration of the New Ashti – Ahmednagar railway line on Friday, he shared the stage with party colleague and political ‘rival’ Pankaja Munde. 

Fadnavis remarked, “It is after great struggle that this railway is running in Beed today. While other political leaders have contributed to this project, the person who took the greatest initiative for it was the late Gopinath Munde.” He paid fulsome tributes to the late BJP stalwart, who was the father of Pankaja Munde and her sister, Beed Lok Sabha MP, Dr Pritam Munde.  

Lambasting the previous MVA regime for its tardiness and lack of initiative, Fadnavis said that unfortunately the MVA government had taken a decision that they would not partake in a 50:50 sharing of funds (with the Centre and State governments). 

The Deputy Chief Minister further alleged, “As a result, though (Union Minister of State for Railways) Raosaheb Danve used to moot new projects for Maharashtra, all of them fell behind in implementation as the MVA government did not give matching funds.”

Fadnavis further said that the real tribute to late Gopinath Munde’s memory would be paid when the Ahmednagar-Beed-Parli-Vaijanath project would be finally completed and the line reached Parli-Vaijanath, the stronghold of the Munde clan. 

He added, “Funds amounting to Rs. 2000 crore has been given by the Centre for this project of which Rs. 1800 crore came during PM Modi’s tenure. It was our (BJP) government which gave it impetus. Once a new government (Shinde-Fadnavis) was formed in Maharashtra, we fast-tracked this project by expediting it in our second cabinet meeting itself.” 

The highlight of the function was Devendra Fadnavis sharing the stage with Pankaja Munde. Both the BJP leaders, considered bitter political adversaries, made their entry to the function in the same helicopter. 

In the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, Pankaja Munde had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of her estranged cousin, the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Dhananjay Munde from the Munde’s stronghold in Parli-Vaijanath assembly constituency.  

It was said that the prime reason for Pankaja Munde’s alleged differences with Devendra Fadnavis was the latter’s ‘authoritarian style’ of running the party and eliminating his potential ‘rivals’ in a Machiavellian fashion.  

Not just Pankaja Munde, but other OBC leaders within the BJP like Eknath Khadse (now in the NCP) had blamed Devendra Fadnavis for engineering their defeats and denying them tickets. Since then, Pankaja Munde’s relationships with Devendra Fadnavis have been frosty at best with the latter skipping Beed district during a tour of Marathwada region last year.