Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has supported his demand for reviving the ‘stalled’ refinery at coastal Nanar village in Ratnagiri district, and wants Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who has scrapped the Centre-Saudi-owned Aramco and UAE’s National Oil Company’s proposal on environmental grounds, to consider it for revival.  He says it is for the benefit of the local people who need jobs and development.

Raj had written to the CM, Pawar and Fadnavis last week asking them to consider working on the refinery because the state could not afford to lose the project worth Rs 3 lakh crore investment to another state. On Monday, the MNS chief told a delegation of pro-refinery residents that Pawar has, over a phone call, told him that his stand was appropriate, and assured him to meet the CM to discuss the project’s future. Pawar hadn’t issued an official statement on Raj’s revelation by Monday afternoon.