Prez to open city museum

President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the Dr Bhau Daji Laud Museum on December 20, the Rashtrapati Bhavan conveyed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The Sena-BJP led BMC was not keen on sharing the credit with Congress for the restoration work which won the museum a Unesco award for heritage conservation in 2005, previously announced that the museum inauguration cannot wait for the President’s availability.

Though Mumbai mayor Shubha Raul, the chairperson of the museum trust, extended an invitation to Patil to inaugurate the museum during Diwali, Patil expressed her inability to confirm dates. 

After a meeting of the board of trustees of the museum before Diwali, Raul had ordered its opening during Diwali vacations.

Sena sources suggested that party president Uddhav Thackeray was willing to inaugurate. However, the Congress seems to have had the last laugh.  Raul now seems convinced that there is no political harm in waiting for the President. The change of stance comes after a meeting with chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.