Warning ‘errant’ Shiv Sainiks of action if they dare to voice support for the Nanar refinery project, Shiv Sena leaders led by MP Vinayak Raut and minister Uday Samant on Sunday urged party office-bearers to take such members to task. They reassured anti-Nanar protesters in Konkan that the Sena would never revive the project.
“If you see anybody carrying the Sena’s flag and trying to speak in support of Nanar refinery, then I urge all Sena workers to blacken that person’s face and take him to task,” Mr. Raut said at a public meeting in Sagave in Ratnagiri’s Rajapur tehsil.
The Sena MP from the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Raut, exhorted party workers to take action against those who stray from the Sena’s line on the project.
“I call upon all Sena office-bearers and workers to hit such party members with chappals (footwear) if they dare to defy the party stance and talk of reviving the refinery project,” Mr. Raut said.
The Sena suspended Sagave zilla parishad member and local leader Manda Shiwalkar, who had reportedly been vocal in expressing support for the contentious project.
The Sena had been a fervent opponent of Ratnagiri Refinery Petrochemical Limited (RRPCL) in the Nanar refinery project when it was in alliance with the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State.
However, a section of local Sena leaders reportedly took out a demonstration in support of the project, on grounds that it would usher in employment opportunities for the people of Konkan.
This was followed by an advertisement for the project in the Konkan edition of the Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamana, which irked the agitating residents of Nanar, while arousing their suspicion of the Sena’s duplicity over the issue.
Since then, residents of the 17 villages in Nanar tehsil, who are opposed to land acquisition for the project, have been threatening agitations if the party does a volte-face on its promise of scrapping it.
The RRPCL project, pegged at ₹3 lakh crore, is a joint venture comprising Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and three Indian public sector oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.
Despite Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray assuring that the Sena had no intention of reviving the project during his tour of Konkan, speculation has persisted of the party doing a possible about-turn now that it is in power as part of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.
As a result, Sunday’s public meeting at Rajapur was held with the intent of the Sena top brass to clear the air on the issue and show solidarity with the residents expected to be displaced if the project comes about.
“The Sena has already given its promise to the people of Konkan. Whatever happens, they should not think that we [the Sena] will be reviving it again,” said Mr. Samant, the Sena legislator from Ratnagiri Assembly constituency.