Mumbai: Taking an initiative to end the controversy over the birthplace of Sai Baba, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray successfully procured a truce. While the state government will diplomatically avoid calling the project as Baba's birthplace development plan in the future, it will continue the development of Pathari as a pilgrimage site.
Shirdi villagers were satisfied with the meeting and announced that they do not have any objection to the development of Pathari as a pilgrimage place.
The state has approved Rs 100 crore as fund for the development of Pathari. "Why is there a controversy over Sai Baba's birthplace?" Thackeray snubbed the delegation of Shirdi villagers.
"I approved the pilgrimage development plan of Pathari (in Parbhani district) in a meeting at Aurangabad. If Pathari develops, it will help in the overall development of the area," he added.
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who led the delegation, explained how there is no mention of the birthplace of the saint in the authentic books published by Sai Baba Trust. "We observed a bandh keeping in mind the sentiments of villagers of Shirdi.
In the past, the state government never took any stand on Baba's birth place. This should continue," Patil requested Thackeray. But Thackeray appealed to him to not drag the government in the controversy over the birthplace and let it develop the pilgrimage site at Pathari.
The meeting was attended by Deputy CM, Ajit Pawar, Revenue Minister, Balasaheb Thorat, and the Lok Sabha Member from Shirdi, Sadashiv Lokhande. The Shirdi villagers also felicitated the CM and other ministers.
