The Shiv Sena held a protest march here on Thursday outside the office of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), which is implementing the proposed 9,900-MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP).

Despite being a part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition at the Centre and in the State, the Sena has repeatedly said that it would not let the project go ahead as long as the local people oppose it. Ironically, the Sena had never arranged a protest march on its own in Ratnagiri while in the Opposition.

A week ago, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had asked the BJP to shift the project to Gujarat if it really thought it was so good and useful. “We stand with the people of Jaitapur and the surrounding areas. If they are against the project, our party will stand with them,” he had said.

Sources in the party point out that the Sena’s hardening stand on the JNPP is also an indication of its increasing friction with the BJP. Both the parties had a heated exchange two days back in the Maharashtra Legislature Council when the BJP decided to support the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) no confidence motion against the chairman.

Source: TH