Fadnavis was to address an election rally in Pune at 2 PM as part of his last phase of campaigning for Pune Municipal Corporation polls. The voting is on February 21.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has expressed his anger, even though publicly he has expressed regret, after the fiasco of his rally at New English School Tilak Road in Pune on Saturday afternoon.
The chief minister, after reaching the venue, reportedly found that very few people had turned up for the rally and majority of the chairs were empty. He waited in vain for some time for people to gather and then left without addressing the rally.
After news broke out that chief minister had cancelled his public rally, Chief Minister Fadnavis himself tweeted about the issue.
Soon after the Chief Minister's tweet, social media was flooded with posts making a fun of the rally which never took place. Since it was scheduled in the afternoon, many wondered if Punekars were taking their customary afternoon siesta post-lunch.
"Ab ki baar, kunachehi aso sarkar, ithe dupari jhopto matdaar" - which means whosoever comes to power, here, voters are used to having a siesta in the afternoon.
"CM says 'sunya sunya maifalit maajhya... ' - which translates to 'my concert is waiting for an audience'.
The miscommunication reportedly took place because the local leadership had announced that the rally is at 4.30 pm and Fadnavis had given them the time of 2.30 pm, which resulted in cancellation of the rally. Pune MLA and guardian minister Girish Bapat said, "Since seven rallies of CM were lined up today at different places in Pune, Mumbai and Nashik, the CM told us that if he addresses this rally, his schedule in Mumbai and Nashik will be derailed, so he requested us to continue with the rally and left for Pimpri Chinchwad." Bapat accepted the communication gap in the entire episode, saying they were expecting people from various wards to come for the rally, however, since the campaigning is in the last stage, all the candidates and their supporters were busy in their own wards and thought that the rally would start late. "CM has already addressed multiple rallies in Pune and the message has reached to the people. Pune citizens have always supported BJP so there is no worry," said Bapat.
Fadnavis, who is spearheading BJP's campaign in the local bodies elections in Maharashtra, then left for adjoining Pimpri Chinchwad where he was scheduled to address another election meeting.
Sources said that even though Fadnavis did not utter a single word on the issue during his public rally at Pimpri following the fiasco, he was annoyed. He reportedly said that the Pune BJP would be taken to task at an appropriate time.
Predictably, the opposition parties jumped at the chance to poke fun at the lack of a crowd at the CM's rally.
Addressing a rally in Mumbai MNS chief Raj Thackeray said, "There were people, but nobody could see them because they were all `transparent'." BJP, which could not sew up alliance with Shiv Sena for civic elections this time, has often raised the issue of lack of `transparency' in Shiv Sena-controlled BMC's functioning.
Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said, "People are fed up with the repeated lies being told by the BJP at election campaign rallies. Cancellation of the Pune rally is an indication that the scenario is fast changing against the BJP."
(With Agency Inputs)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Fadnavis")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}