As expected, Rane and CM spar at Chipi airport event

A war over credit for the new airport developed at Chipi in Sindhudurg district broke out between chief minister Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and union minister Narayan Rane of the BJP on the inauguration stage on Saturday.

- Bhavika.Jain

Rane, who spoke first, listed out the work he had done for the coastal district since the 1990s. “Infrastructure in the district is due to Narayan Rane, no one can come close to it. When Sunil Prabhu and I had come to do bhoomipujan of the airport project in 2009, there were many who were protesting against it. These were the same people who stall road projects and stand in front of contractors every month and some of those people are sitting on stage together,” Rane said.

He also went back to his days in the Shiv Sena and spoke about the qualities of Thackeray’s father.

“Balasaheb Thackeray sent me to Sindhudurg in the 90s. Saheb did not like people who lied,” he said.

It was for the first time that Rane and Thackeray shared the stage after the former chief minister’s arrest in August following comments against the incumbent chief minister.

Thackeray, when it was his turn to speak, took a jibe at Rane saying that the people of Konkan knew who had done what and that is why they had stood by the Shiv Sena for so many years.