MNS chief Raj Thackeray has expressed regret over not being able to meet Nashik para-athlete and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Dilip Gavit during his recent visit to the city. The clarification came after reports said Gavit waited for nearly two hours to meet the MNS leader but returned without getting an audience.
“I saw news that the winning athletes from the Commonwealth Games came to meet me in Nashik yesterday, but our meeting didn’t happen. To begin with, I didn’t even know that Mr. Gavit had come to meet me; no one informed me. That’s why the meeting didn’t take place. Otherwise, if I had known they had come to meet me, the meeting would definitely have happened. Why wouldn’t I meet them?" Raj Thackeray said in a video posted on the MNS X handle.
Gavit hails from Nashik, where Raj Thackeray was on tour. He won the gold in the men’s 100m T47 final in the recently concluded Glasgow CWG, had been invited to meet Thackeray on Thursday, said his coach Vaijanath Kale. A video showed MNS workers placating Kale and asking him to wait for some more time. Denied the meeting, Kale and Gavit have since left for Delhi.
"There seems to have been some misunderstanding on their part. Still, regarding this whole matter, I express my regret. I’ve just learned that they’ve gone to Delhi now; as soon as they return from there, I will certainly meet them," he added.
India scripted history in para athletics at the Commonwealth Games, securing a historic one-two finish in the men’s 100m T47 final as Dilip Gavit won the gold and Mohammed Basil Morssinganakath claimed the silver.
