As Chavan decides to skip PM`s event; BJP asks how will Congress ignore "Modi mantra"

Zee Media Bureau

Mumbai: In what can be termed as a pre-emptive face-saving exercise, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has decided to avoid sharing the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at functions scheduled in Nagpur on Thursday, to avoid the embarrassment faced by fellow Congress CM of Haryana. Confirming his decision of skipping the event, Chavan tweeted:

I will not be sharing the dais with the Hon'ble PM at today's Metro Rail bhoomipujan (1/2)

— Prithviraj Chavan (@prithvrj) August 21, 2014

I have already thanked the Central Govt for sanctioning the #NagpurMetro giving Viability Gap Funding (2/2)— Prithviraj Chavan (@prithvrj) August 21, 2014

Not just Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chavan himself had been by heckled by Bharatiya Janata Party activists at a function attended by Modi in Raigad. But the decision to skip sharing dais with Modi was made by the senior Congress leaders after Hooda was booed by BJP workers at a stone-laying ceremony at Kaithal on Tuesday. “I`ve decided not to attend the Nagpur event. Congress and NCP have decided jointly that we will not attend the PM`s functions,” Chavan was quoted as saying. Earlier, Maharashtra officials had said that in view of the "insulting behavior" of BJP activists at an official function, Chavan was likely to skip Thursday`s official events in the state`s second capital Nagpur. Meanwhile, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi took a dig at the Congress saying that how would the grand old party ignore the `Modi mantra of good governance`. Here`s what Naqvi tweeted:

Congress can ignore "Modi manch"(dais)'but how will it ignore "MODI mantra "of good governance and development .— Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) August 21, 2014

Reacting to Chavan`s decision of refusing to share dais with Modi, another BJP leader Vinod Tawde said that when the Maharashtra CM went to Vidarbha he was booed by farmers and they were not BJP workers. He asked the Congress to introspect. Modi is scheduled to dedicate the Mouda Super Thermal Power Project Phase I and later lay the foundation stone of the proposed Nagpur Metro, the Pardi Grid Metro and a flyover on National Highway 6, all in Nagpur. Expressing concern over what it termed as "undignified development", the Maharashtra Congress said it proved the BJP had no respect for the opposition. "It is leading to suspicions that the prime minister is adopting a dictatorial attitude. Never before in this country has a chief minister been openly heckled in an official government function," said state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant. Sawant said it was shocking that Modi maintained a silence as BJP activists created a ruckus against the chief minister. At Thursday`s functions, Modi will be accompanied by Governor K Sankaranarayanan and central ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal. With Agency Inputs