While the Shiv Sena announced last week that there will be stalls provided by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to sell Shiv Vada Pav at a nominal price across the city, the Congress is propping up another Maharashtrian dish, the Kaande-Pohe.
The tug of war to impress voters has begun between the Shiv Sena and the Congress.
While the Shiv Sena announced last week that there will be stalls provided by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to sell Shiv Vada Pav at a nominal price across the city, the Congress is propping up another Maharashtrian dish, the Kaande-Pohe.
The Congress, which is in the opposition in the Sena-BJP-run BMC, is demanding an equal nu
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| u00a0Shiv Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray offers vada pav to senior leader Manohar Joshi during Vada Pav Sammelan recently |
mber of stalls for kaande-pohe. In a letter to Municipal Commissioner Dr Jairaj Phatak, Congress leader in BMC, Rajhans Singh, demanded equal number of kaande-pohe stalls.
"If BMC can give stalls for Shiv Vada Pav, then kaande-pohe should also be given stalls. We have asked for an equal number of stalls, as given to the Sena. Also, we want reservations for SC/ST in the stalls," he said.
The Municipal Commissioner said that Singh had spoken to him about the stalls and the BMC may consider making some provision for the Congress to sell kaande-pohe on handcarts, which will be given designated places in the wards. Phatak said, "We are yet to receive their demand letter and will take a decision accordingly. Even the Shiv Vada Pav scheme has to be approved by the corporation".
The war between Shiv Vada Pav and Kaande Pohe has been raging for quite some time now. After Sena held a function for Shiv Vada Pav, Singh announced a kaande-pohe sammelan, which had to be postponed due to 26/11 terror attacks.
Stating that kaande-pohe was more Maharashtrian than Vada Pav, Singh had said that women groups from across the state will be called to participate in the function and the recipe like Shiv Vada Pav will be standardised.
"We were planning to hold the function in December, but after the attacks, we did not find it appropriate to go ahead. We plan to orgainse it in the next few weeks," Singh said.
Championing the cause of Marathi Manoos, the Sena had launched the Shiv Vada Pav initiative, wherein contestants from 27 places across the state were asked to make the food item. The winning recipe was to be standardised and the Vada Pav proposed to be sold in stalls devoted to the food item.
The civic administration is currently working out a strategy to award stalls to the Sena to implement its Shiv Vada Pav programme. Its earlier scheme of Jhunka Bhakar Kendras had fallen flat and the Congress-led state government scrapped it last year. The Sena is already trying to revive a few legal centres.
