New ad closes rift chapter, says state BJP boss

Shiv Sena Shinde went into damage control mode a day after uproar by the alliance partner and harsh criticism from the Opposition over the media campaign that projected Eknath Shinde as the most preferred choice for the chief ministerrsquos post next year The Shiv Sena did some damage control by running another publicity campaign on Wednesday apparently to appease the BJPFollowing the Senarsquos lsquoUrsquo turn state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the matter was closed ldquoThe comparison was uncalled for Whether it was inadvertent or advertent this kind of actions that create a rift in the alliance should be avoided Both Shinde and Fadnavis are large hearted If Shinde was mean he wouldnrsquot have corrected the mistake It was expected and since it has been done it would be good for both parties and alliancerdquo said the president drawing the curtains on the issueOn Tuesday Fadnavis had a closed door meeting with Shinde and Sena ministers after which Sena spokesperson Deepak Kesarkar had said that the mistake if any would be corrected the next day It was decided at the meeting to stick together instead of blowing the matter out of proportion Wednesdayrsquos print work was in tune with the agreement that was reached between the upset BJP and scurrying SenaChandrashekhar Bawankule state BJP president centre said whether it was inadvertent or advertent such actions that create a rift in the alliance should be avoided File pic Sayyed Sameer AbediAfter Fadnavis cancelled a trip to Kolhapur for the CMrsquos official programme on Tuesday he skipped one more in Mumbai on Wednesday on health grounds The skipping of CMrsquos events was linked with the disenchantment in the BJPrsquos rank and file but multiple sources including the Sena ministers and Fadnavis staff confirmed the Dy CMrsquos ear specialist has barred him from attending public programmes where noise levels are highOpposition speakHowever the Opposition the UBT Sena in particular did not spare its rival faction Thackeray Senarsquos spokesperson Sanjay Raut attributed the corrective action to the lsquobamboorsquo an earful Fadnavis had given to the Shinde Sena on Tuesday ldquoWhere has Shinde gone from Maharashtra referring to Tuesdayrsquos campaign tagline Modi for India Shinde for Maharashtra and the revised header that appeared on Wednesday The corrections were made after Fadnavis had done a bamboo given stick to the Shinde Senardquo asked RautldquoLet me tell you lsquojo bund se gayi wo haud se nahi aatirsquo whatever is lost once cannot be retrieved All is not well between the Shinde and BJP camps This government will go in the next two months because the Speaker will have to disqualify the MLAs as instructed by the Supreme Courtrdquo the MP saidRaut also questioned the Shinde Senarsquos claim that a partyrsquos wellwisher had published the controversial advertisement on Tuesday apparently without the knowledge of the high command ldquoWho are these wellwishers Wellwishers donrsquot do such things The 40MLA party has turned Fadnavis the leader of 105 MLAs into a ragrdquo he saidNationalist Congress Party working president Supriya Sule wanted to trace CM Shindersquos wellwisher who had crores of rupees to spend on a media blitzkrieg ldquoWho is this wellwisher Crores of rupees are needed to publish such advertisements Also who did the survey and what was its sizerdquo she asked quipping that Wednesdayrsquos revised art design might have come from New Delhi The revised campaignBased on the same survey which was quoted on Tuesday the new advertisement said 493 per cent people wanted the united leadership of Shinde and Fadnavis Apparently it was an aggregate of the individual figures that were published on Tuesday while comparing the two leaders with the Dy CM trailing behind the CM by three pointsIt further said 464 per cent people wanted the BJPSena alliance government again in the state It featured all the missing elements of Tuesdayrsquos campaign It carried Fadnavisrsquo picture slightly taller than Shindemdashboth waving to the people It also featured the Senarsquos nine ministers The Sena corrected a major mistake that has invited hard hitting reactions from the rival Sena faction and other opposition partiesThe new campaign carried the Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray and Shindersquos mentor Anand Dighersquos pictures along with images of PM Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah who is de facto incharge of the BJPrsquos affairs in Maharashtra Tuesdayrsquos advertisement featured only two persons Modi and Shinde Today the BJPrsquos election symbol Lotus shared space with the Senarsquos bow and arrowThe content seemed to be carefully picked unlike the previous artwork The text stressed on the development workrelated survey findings such as 84 per cent peoplersquos preference for PM Modirsquos leadership and 62 per cent favourable to the lsquodouble enginersquo sarkar because it had propelled developmentldquoBecause of PM Modirsquos support and guidance in the past one year the state has made fast progress The state is leading in basic infrastructure education health care and industry because of the leadership of CM Shinde and Dy CM Fadnavis and strong alliance of the Sena and BJP The people are satisfied with the governmentrsquos performance People have preferred the alliance because they see a dream state that they wished for shaping uprdquo said the campaign further