After the recent virulent poster war between BJP and Shiv Sena, the two ruling allies today took to social media to take credit of the water conservation efforts in the parched Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
After coming to power, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had launched the 'Jalyukta Shivar' scheme, aimed at making Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019, whereas Shiv Sena had been running its independent scheme called 'Shiv Jalkranti Yojana' (Water Revolution Scheme) to fight drought.
Fadnavis, who is in Allahabad to attend BJP's national executive, today tweeted and posted photographs of trenches, dug under the 'Jalyukta Shivar' scheme, filled with water after rains in Dudhgaon village of Parbhani district.
"It rained today, glimpses of how water gets accumulated because of Jalyukta Shivar works in Dudhgaon village in Parbhani," he said in the tweet.
Soon, the Sena took to WhatsApp claiming that its Shiv Jalakranti pattern in Paranda taluka of Osamanabad district had led to flooding of the Ulfa river.
The Sena claimed that the party's work of desilting the Ulfa river and the Shiv Jalkranti works were recently dedicated to public by party president Uddhav Thackeray.
"For the first time, the village was cut-off due to flooding and the wells started overflowing. People celebrated Diwali!," it said.
The Sena claimed that drought had been wiped out and added that it was a success of what it called its Paranda pattern.
Recently, following the remarks of BJP's Minister for Housing Prakash Mehta's remarks that from now on (BJP's) lions will roar in Mumbai, the Sena launched a poster war depicting a tiger going for the lion's throat.
The BJP then countered it with a series of posters that depicted the Sena president in poor light. This was countered recently by Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who while addressing party cadres in Aurangabad said that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra were worse than the government of Nizam.
To this, pro-BJP Marathi daily 'Tarun Bharat' countered by asking how come Sena ministers were still a part of the BJP-led government.
The newspaper even termed the Sena ideology as "opportunistic" and said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party had lost its balance after it was humiliated in the 2014 assembly elections.
(REOPENS BES21)
Meanwhile, Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe, while reacting to Shelar's comments said the BJP leader should not forget the pending Lokayukta inquiry against him.
"Uddhav ji has complemented Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi over the surgical strike and thus there was no reason for Ashish Shelar to speak about the issue. He seems to be forgetting there is a Lokayukta inquiry pending against him and he has been called thrice by the police for questioning and hasn't got a clean chit as yet," Gorhe said.
She said along with Shelar, former minister Eknath Khadse, Women and Child Development minister Pankaja Munde and Education minister Vinod Tawde are "under scrutiny for alleged corruption".
"Is Devendra Fadnavis the Chief Minister or is Shelar the Chief Minister? Shelar is criticising the Sena due to his love for Gujarat," Gorhe said.
