Mumbai: Veteran politician and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar visited the Lalbaugcha Raja and offered prayers to Lord Ganesh and one of the most popular public celebrations in Mumbai prompting an attack from the BJP.
Pawar (83), accompanied by his son-in-law Sadanand Sule and grand-daughter Revati Sule visited the pandal in the morning.
"The glory of Mumbai's Ganesh festival can be seen in Girangaon. I wholeheartedly visited the Lalbaughcha Raja pandal along with my family members. I prayed for strength to fight for the causes of farmers and common people,” said Pawar in a post in X.
Girangaon, part of central Mumbai, was known for its mills and is known as the Marathi heartland.
However, soon after Pawar visited Lalbaugcha Raja, BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule and MLC Pravin Darekar launched a scathing attack.
“This is happening after 40 years,” said Bawankule, describing the visit as political. “This is because of the emergence of Maha Yuti,” he added.
"Pawar visited the temple after so many years and that too for political reasons. It is highly pretentious of him to visit the pandal. Pawar had attended events where speakers insulted Hindu deities but never countered them," Darekar claimed.
Published 09 September 2024, 12:07 IST