A day after Sena, BJP hosts mass marriage in Marathwada

The ruling BJP today conducted mass marriage of 527 couples here, a day after its ally Shiv Sena solemnised wedding of 244 couples at Aurangabad in the drought-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
Yesterday, Sena had organised the ceremony as part of 'Balasaheb Thackeray Kanyadaan Yojna', which was attended by party chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son and 'Yuva Sena' chief Aditya Thackeray and Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, among others.
Today, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve hosted the mass marriage in Jalna, another town in Marathwada region.
Fadnavis was accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, including Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse, Education Minister Vinod Tawde, Co-operatives Minister Chandrakant Patil, Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde, MoS (Social Justice) Dilip Kamble and party MLAs.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye denied that the party was in competition with Sena over the issue and added that BJP is appreciative of its ally's initiative, "which is above politics".
Speaking on the occasion, Khadse said, "Henceforth, whenever mass weddings are held in drought-hit Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, the government will provide Rs 25,000 to a SC and ST couple. An economically backward couple that belongs to the general category, will be provided Rs 15,000."

Today's mass wedding included couples of different religions, with maximum being Hindu (406). There were 94 Buddhist couples, followed by Muslim and Christian, 14 each. They hailed from Hingoli, Nanded, Parbhani, Aurangabad and Jalna districts in Marathwada.

"The mass wedding ceremony was held as we want to provide relief to the parents of the bride. We also want to ease the trouble of farmers who are worried about the marriage of their daughters," Danve told PTI.
The BJP leader said the party decided to foot the entire cost of the ceremony, including new clothes to the couple, their relatives, mangalsutra (wedding necklace) and utensils.
"For the last four years Marathwada region has been facing drought. BJP made all arrangements for transportation of the families concerned and they will not have to bear any cost," he added.