A portion of a famous sweets shop in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s constituency Thane was suddenly demolished a few days ago. There was not much reason why this should have made news beyond Thane in ordinary circumstances but a political slugfest over the action grabbed eyeballs.
The row began when Shinde’s PR machinery, armed with a video of the shop owner and a copy of a non-cognisable offence entry, approached the media to quell speculations that the chief minister’s daughter-in-law was behind the demolition.
In the widely circulated video, owner of Prashant Corner, Pandurang Sakpal, can be heard saying: “Vrushali Shinde never came to our shop. The Shinde family is not related by any means to the action taken by the municipal corporation.” Vrushali Shinde is the wife of Shrikant Shinde, MP and son of the chief minister.
A senior leader of the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena also tweeted in support of Vrushali. “Fake Shiv Sena’s efforts to ‘corner’ us have been foiled by the owner of ‘Prashant Corner’. But [Sanjay] Raut will continue to act like he is asleep. The fake Sena has got scared due to the pace of work of CM Eknath Shinde. That’s why they are trying to drag the family into political controversies,” Naresh Mhaske said.
Mhaske claimed that it was Raut who had allegedly spread the rumour that a portion of the shop was demolished after the staff “did not give proper treatment” to the chief minister’s daughter-in-law.
आम्हाला ‘ कॉर्नर’ करण्याचा नकली शिवसेनेचा प्रयत्न स्वतः प्रशांत कॉर्नरच्या मालकानेच हाणून पाडला आहे. पण राऊतांचे झोपेचे सोंग असेच सुरु राहील. मुख्यमंत्री मा. एकनाथ शिंदे साहेब यांच्या कामाचा धडाका पाहून नकली सेनेला धडकी भरली आहे. म्हणून त्यांच्या कुटुंबातील सदस्यांना राजकीय वादात… pic.twitter.com/dvUBjGo4yf— Naresh Mhaske (@nareshmhaske) May 29, 2023
In his complaint, the owner of the famous shop said: “On 26th May, the Thane Municipal Corporation demolished the seating area near the main entrance. When I returned from the US on 27th May, I inspected the place. Meanwhile, I came to know that a political worker named Ajay Jaya, who belongs to Dharmarajya party, was spreading rumours that the corporation action was due to lack of proper treatment to Shrikant Shinde’s wife. This has damaged the reputation of my firm. Proper legal action be taken against him.”
So far, no complaint has been filed by Shinde’s family. However, the news has brought more attention to the famous shop and led to further speculations about the reason for sudden demolition of a structure that existed for quite some time.
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