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Controversy over name forces Eknath Shinde to cancel garden inauguration in Pune
A new controversy has erupted involving Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde after reports emerged that a garden that he was supposed to inaugurate during a trip to Pune was developed on public land and named after him
A new controversy has erupted involving Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde after reports emerged that a garden that he was supposed to inaugurate during a trip to Pune was developed on public land and named after him.
Shinde visited Pune on Tuesday but did not inaugurate the garden, while clarifying that the park will be renamed after late Sena leader Anand Dighe.
“Some workers are overenthusiastic. When I got to know that my name has been given to the garden, I asked the Sena worker to rename it after Anand Dighe,” said Shinde. Dighe, was a Shiv Sena leader and Shinde’s mentor who died in a road accident in 2002.
Shinde received severe backlash from activists as a result of the development, forcing him to instruct his supporter Nana Bhangire to cancel the programme in Pune’s Mohammadwadi.
Bhangire, a former Shiv Sena corporator, developed the garden on public space and named it after Shinde following demand from the public. He had recently joined the Shinde camp, which led to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government, and was made Pune unit chief.
The group that opposed the event had earlier raised voice in a similar case involving a former Bharatiya Janata Party corporator at Salisbury Park garden.
“We have cancelled the inauguration. We will put up a proposal with the name of the garden to Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) garden committee for further decision,” Bhangire said.
Civic activist Vinita Deshmukh alleged that due process was not followed while naming the garden after the CM. “This was Shinde’s first visit to Pune as CM. While Pune is grappling with multiple issues, the CM’s priority is inaugurating a garden named after him. He seems to have no idea about previous protests on similar issue at Salisbury Park,” Deshmukh said.
Another controversy emerged with regards to a football ground, which is adjacent to the Mohmmadwadi garden and is named after Late Balasaheb Thackeray.
While’s Bhangire’s term as Corporator is over, the land where the football ground has been developed, is owned by PMC. Officials said that the civic body was kept in the loop when CM’s event was planned.
The garden was ready, however, the term of elected members ended and the garden was lying idle. In order to please Shinde, Bhangire organised events in the city and invited the CM.
