In a rarest of rare show of unity, the
BJP, Shiv Sena and Congress top leadership came together in the Konkan to
commence the work of the Goa-Mumbai four lane highway.
A divided crowd shouting slogans of their
respective parties with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Sena chief Uddhav
Thackeray and Congress leader Narayan Rane on the dais opened the programme of
Nitin Gadkari's ministry.
"I am on this stage because I believe
in politics of development. When it comes to development of the Konkan, we
should work together," said Narayan Rane, whose positive pitch set the
tone for the rest of the programme.
"We all are under one roof for a
bigger agenda and we are still shouting slogans against each other. Let us come
together for betterment of Konkan," said Uddhav Thackeray.
CM Fadnavis continued with the positivity
and appealed to the Konkankars to be better than Goa. "Goa is now
congested and overloaded. It is time for the Konkan to be the tourist haven of
the West. We are planning major projects here including an airport at Chipi. We
need cooperation of people to make these initiatives a grand success," he
said.
Nitin Gadkari, weaving positive ambience
into his speech, invoked Balasaheb Thackeray, Manohar Joshi and even gave due
credit to Narayan Rane but blamed the lack of development of the Konkan on a
divided leadership. "Leaders were not ready to come together. That is why
Konkan could not develop the way it should have been. Today all are here and
all are united for development," he said.