NCP President Sharad Pawar today came out in support of the proposed nuclear power plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra's Konkan region and said BJP should persuade its ally Shiv Sena to support the mega project.
An agreement on moving forward on the stalled nuclear project was among the 17 pacts signed between India and France in Paris during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit. Sena has been consistently opposing the plant and is reportedly miffed with the Prime Minister for pushing it.
"There is no threat to environment due to the Jaitapur project," said Pawar, who was in Nashik, about 200 km from here.
"BJP should persuade Shiv Sena on the Jaitapur issue," the former Union minister said, adding that the government and people of Maharashtra should extend cooperation to the project.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the Indo-French agreement on fast-tracking the stalled power plant.
"Whatever decision Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes on this issue (Jaitapur) will be the right one," Fadnavis told reporters.
"Nuclear energy is a necessity," he said.
The Jaitapur project, where French company Areva is to set up six nuclear reactors with total power generation capacity of about 10,000 MW, is stuck for long because of differences over the cost of electricity to be generated.
Sena, which is part of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has opposed the project saying it poses threat to local environment and population, and had organised protests against it.
