Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil today took a jibe at Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying they deserve a "national award for acting" for their role during the Mumbai civic body poll campaign.
"Last week, when the National Awards were announced, I thought Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray too deserved to get this award in the acting category given their performance to target each other during the Mumbai civic body campaign," Vikhe-Patil told a gathering in Sindhkhedraja in the district.
Both the Sena and the BJP, who are partners in the state government, had fought the election for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) held in February on their own strength.
They (Fadnavis and Thackeray) had attacked each other during the campaign over various issues ranging from corruption to having a transparent administration in the civic body.
Vikhe-Patil was in Sindhkhedraja to launch the second phase of 'Sangharsh Yatra'.
Opposition parties in the state have embarked upon this yatra during the last week of March from Chandrapur to highlight the plight of farmers in the state.
Looking at the manner in which Shiv Sena supported the Opposition's demand for loan waiver during the Budget Session, it was felt that Uddhav Thackeray will not attend the NDA meeting in New Delhi on April 10, but what happened was totally contrary, said Vikhe-Patil.
"Not only did Uddhav Thackeray attend the meeting, he also had dinner with the Prime Minister," he said.
Vikhe-Patil said recently in the Lok Sabha, the Shiv Sena MPs took an aggressive stand over the air travel ban on one of its MPs.
"Did anyone hear Sena taking (such) a strong stand on the issue of farmers in the Parliament?," the leader asked.
NCP's Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Samajwadi party leader Abu Asim Azmi, Peoples Republican Party leader Jogendra Kawade were among those present on the occasion.
The yatra will travel across Buldhana and proceed to Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Dhule and Thane districts in the next four days.
The leaders also paid tributes to Jijabai, mother of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji at her ancestral home in Sindhkhedraja.
Later, they travelled through Chikli town on tractors, a Congress office-bearer said.
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