Shiv Sena members claim MNS corporator is using the tree in political pow-wow; MNS members say Sena has suffered a setback because their party is beautifying Dadar
In politics, the most important factor is controversy, never mind what it is about. In the heart of the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena belt, that is Shivaji Park, it has erupted over a dead tree. It was coloured on top in the colours of the MNS flag, creating a rift between both the parties.
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The tree had blue, white, saffron, white and green colours in sequence, making it appear like the MNS flag, which carries colours in the same sequence. The MNS has changed the colours on the tree
The Sena claims that the MNS corporator is using a dead tree to do politics, and hence, they had to complain to the BMC against it. MNS claims that Sena seems to have suffered a setback because MNS is beautifying Dadar. In the month of August, the local corporator from MNS, Sudhir Jadhav, had got permission from the BMC for the decoration of dead trees.
One such tree between the Shiv Sena Bhavan and Portuguese Church, had been decorated by him. The top of the tree had blue, white, saffron, white and green colours in sequence, thus making it appear like the MNS flag, which has the colours in the same sequence. After the Sena’s protest, MNS changed the colours on the tree.
The flag colours hadn’t gone down well with the Shiv Sena and its local MLA, Sada Sarvankar’s son Samadhan, who also happens to be the office bearer of the youth wing of the party, Yuva Sena. Taking up the matter, he said, “How can someone use a dead tree for publicity purposes? They have coloured it with oil paint and made their party flag.
Tomorrow what if the tree falls down? All this is being done for the benefit of builders and for people who put up commercial hoardings. How come suddenly all trees which are in front of big towers, malls and hoardings are dying? We doubt foul play in such beautification.” Sena claims there are many more such trees in the vicinity and that all are being decorated.
They even took to the social networking site Twitter, and posted a picture of the tree, showing the flag, and saying that it had been purposely painted in the MNS colours. Sandeep Deshpande, MNS group leader in BMC and also a corporator from Dadar, said, “Our theme is that of beti bachao, not the MNS flag.
The tree has all the colours, including saffron, so does it become the Shiv Sena flag? The Sena has suffered a blow because of the beautification it seems and, hence, members are making such baseless comments.”
He further added, “There are so many trees that have died in the last few months in and around Mumbai. Most of them were rain trees. Have Jadhav and I killed them all? The Sena cannot stomach the fact that the MNS is beautifying Dadar.” Sudhir Jadhav is out of India and all attempts to contact him were futile.