Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar on Wednesday said the decision to scrap the Nanar refinery project in the Konkan had already been taken, a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hinted at its revival.
Kesarkar told reporters that people from Ratnagiri district had opposed the proposed biggest refinery in Asia fearing its detrimental effect on the coastal ecology.
"Uddhav Thackeray took the decision to oppose the project since locals were against it. It is not his own decision. The decision to scrap the project in Konkan has already been taken. Discussion on the issue can go on," said Kesarkar, the MLA from Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district neighbouring Ratnagiri.
The project was aborted earlier this year at the insistence of the Sena as a pre-condition for an alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls.
The project returned to limelight ahead of the assembly elections, due next month, when Thackeray recently said the proposed metro car shed in Aarey Colony in Mumbai will go the Nanar way.
However, in comments which are seen as hardening the BJP's position vis-a-vis the Sena, Fadnavis on Tuesday told reporters that if locals wanted the Nanar project he was willing to talk to them.
The differences of opinion between the BJP and the Sena are viewed as a one-upmanship strategy by both the parties to get the desired number of seats to contest polls.
Kesarkar, however, also said the BJP and the Sena can provide a stable government in the interest of the state.
"I am of the view that the alliance should happen," he added.
The 60-million tonne per annum refinery-cum- petrochemical complex has been conceived as the largest such facility in the world, which was supposed to be set up on over 15,000 acres.
State-run oil majors have tied up with Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for the refinery project, which entails an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore.
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