Shinde faction posts Sule's photo sitting in CM chair; NCP files complaint

The Nationalist Congress Party accused the spokesperson of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction of sharing a "morphed" photo of Baramati MP Supriya Sule sitting in the chief minister's chair

The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday accused the spokesperson of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction of sharing a "morphed" photo of Baramati MP Supriya Sule sitting in the chief minister's chair, flanked by two former Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ministers, and urged the Mumbai police to take action.

NCP office-bearer, Aditi Nalawde, filed an online complaint with the suburban Worli police station and demanded appropriate action against the concerned Twitter handle used for posting Sule's picture and the person who posted it. Nalawade stated that the photo was posted to malign the image of the elected representative.

Incidentally, the NCP on Friday accused Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde, son of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, of sitting in a chair meant for his father, although the parliamentarian from Kalyan had claimed the picture had been taken at the office at their private residence.

Sule's photo in which she is seen sitting in the chair meant for the chief minister was tweeted by Sheetal Mhatre, the spokesperson of the Shinde-led Sena faction.

In the accompanying post, Mhatre asked "Look who is sitting in the chief minister's chair".

The photo shows Sule, the MP from Bramati and daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, sitting in a chair and behind her, there is a board with "Maharashtra Government - Chief Minister" written on it. It also shows her being flanked by former ministers and NCP leaders Dilip Walse Patil and Rajesh Tope.

Mhatre also posted a picture of Yuva Sena leader Varun Sardesai attending a meeting chaired by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray at the state secretariat.

Accusing Mhatre of posting a morphed picture, the NCP urged the Mumbai police's cyber cell to take action.

Ravikant Varpe, a state spokesman of the NCP, accused Mhatre of maligning the image of Sule and asked the police to act against her. He tagged the Mumbai police in his tweet.

Nalawade, a close aide of Sule, posted a tweet in which she asked Mhatre to be original.

"Be original. Copies fail too fast," she said.

She also posted some pictures saying Walse Patil and Tope had attended a virtual meeting of COVID management called by PM Modi from Mantralaya, while former CM Uddhav Thackeray participated from Varsha, the official residence.

Nalawade also said that Sule's original picture was taken from one of the NCP functions.

Another spokesperson of the Shinde faction and former Thane Mayor, Naresh Mhaske, accused the NCP and Opposition of trying to give the impression that Shrikant Shinde is sitting in the chair at 'Varsha', the official residence of the CM, or the state secretariat, and made a hue and cry.

"But the actual location of the chair (in which Shrikant Shinde is sitting) is the private residence of CM Shinde and a board (with Chief Minister, Maharashtra, written on it) was kept for a video conference. Someone forgot to remove the same," he told reporters in Thane.

"......Who started this game? This process will continue if anyone picks up a quarrel with us," he added.

Shrikant Shinde said his father and incumbent CM is a "mobile" chief minister who operates from whatever his current location is.

"He also operates from his (private) residence. He takes his office along with him unlike his predecessor (Uddhav Thackeray)," Shrikant Shinde said.