Mumbai: While key political leaders have made it a point to visit flood-hit Kolhapur and Sangli regions, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray has not yet found the time to visit the inundated villages.
Instead of doing so, which is important for reasons of optics and messaging, he has equated an outpouring of emotions with dry sympathy.
This is clearly a U-turn by Shiv Sena chief as he had recently announced his plan to visit the two areas.
“I was not willing to show my dry empathy by visiting Kolhapur and Sangli. Shiv Sena is already helping flood affected people. Today we dispatched the first batch of relief material,” Thackeray said after flagging-off his party's vehicles.
In the last 3 days, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar and Dhananjay Munde, Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat, Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar have visited the flood ravaged region. But despite being an ally of the ruling party, Uddhav has steered clear of this initiative.
