Nitin Gadkari Shares Stage With Controversial Congress Leader Digvijaya Singh, Praises Him For His Annual Pilgrimage To Pandharpur

On Thursday (29 June), Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh shared the dais during a book release function near Pune city in Maharashtra.

The function was organised to release a book on late Congress leader Ramkrishna More, at Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune.

In course of his speech, Gadkari praised Singh for his annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, a temple town in Maharashtra, where he visits the famous temple of Lord Vitthal and Goddess Rukmini in Solapur district.

Singh is known to visit Pandharpur every year to offer prayers to the deity on Ashadi Ekadashi, when the town is filled with lakhs of 'warkaris' (devotees) and the palanquins carrying sacred footprints of Sant Tukaram and Sant Dnyaneshwar. The temple town is located in Solapur district.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways congratulated and thanked Singh for walking so much during the pilgrimage, stating, "Although I am younger than you, I won't get that kind of courage to walk."

In response, Singh suggested that Gadkari should also give it a try and start participating in it regularly.

In 2018, Gadkari withdrew the defamation case against Singh after the latter expressed regret over his statement. They jointly filed a petition for withdrawal of the matter in Delhi's Patiala House court.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister was accused by the BJP leader of attempting to divert people's attention from a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on coal blocks allocation by making misleading allegations that a business partner of Gadkari made a profit of Rs 490 crore from coal mines in Chattisgarh.

Gadkari, speaking at the event further, also praised the political culture of Maharashtra. He highlighted that despite the presence of different parties in the state, there was no bitterness among them.

He stated, "Differences of opinion can exist, but there should be no 'manbhinnata' (differences in a relationship), and Maharashtra serves as a fine example of this."

The government is currently developing the Palkhi Marg (palanquin route) with a budget of Rs 2,000 crore, announced the Minister.

He further added that he had instructed the engineers to lay grass along the route, enabling warkaris to walk on it instead of having to go barefoot on a hot road.