Mission Kashmir: One crisis, parallel agendas | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: Since a significant number of tourists in Pahalgam were from Maharashtra, the BJP-led Mahayuti government was quick to mount a rescue and relief operation. Oddly enough, two of the three ruling parties – the BJP and the Shiv Sena – appeared to be working separately, rather than together on this mission.

While Fadnavis dispatched his party colleague and water resources minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday morning to Srinagar to help tourists from Maharashtra return safely, Shinde sent a team of Shiv Sena functionaries to the Valley, on an identical mission. The Sena team comprised Abhijeet Darekar, personal assistant of MP Shrikant Shinde, and Sena deputy chief from Dombivali, Rajesh Kadam. Then, Shinde himself took a chartered flight to Srinagar on Wednesday evening.

Soon, a statement was released by Shinde’s office. It read, “Since the deputy chief minister himself has gone to Jammu & Kashmir, the relief work taken up by the government will be faster. It has also underlined that Shinde is the first to rush to help people in case of any mishap.”

Next, Fadnavis and Shinde made separate efforts to arrange special flights to bring back stranded tourists to Maharashtra. Fadnavis’s office said a special Indigo flight had been arranged to bring 83 stranded tourists from Srinagar to Mumbai on Thursday. Another flight was also being organised. By then, Shinde had already spoken to Union civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, about organising a special plane to bring back those stranded.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) also said that Fadnavis had asked Mumbai guardian ministers Ashish Shelar and Mangal Prabhat Lodha to remain present at the Mumbai airport to oversee arrangements to receive the mortal remains of deceased tourists from Maharashtra. Not to be outdone, Shinde’s office told the media that he had asked Sena ministers Gulabrao Patil and Yogesh Kadam to remain present at the airport – for the same reason.

Also, Shinde had already reached out to the family of Sanjay Lele, one of the three deceased tourists who hailed from Dombivali. Lele was related to Rajesh Kadam, deputy chief of the Shiv Sena in Dombivali.

Perhaps too busy with making these arrangements, Shinde on Wednesday gave a meeting with the chief minister a miss. He also cancelled meetings of the urban development department, which he heads.

Asked why the Sena had made parallel arrangements, a Sena functionary insisted there was no one-upmanship at play. “Shinde saheb has always helped people in distress. When there was a landslide at Irsalgad in Raigad, he personally went there with people from the Thane Disaster Response Force and helped the victims. Similarly, he has gone to Srinagar on a special flight.”

On the other hand, Maharashtra’s other deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar (NCP), preferred to keep a low profile. Pawar spoke to Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir over the phone and urged him to assist with relief and rescue operations for tourists from Maharashtra. He also made a call to party spokesperson Rupali Thombre-Patil, who was touring Kashmir when the attack took place and is stranded in a hotel with a group of tourists.