Thackerays and Ranes to be in Maharashtra's Konkan on May 6

Locals in the region are opposing the soil-strata testing for the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd project

Amid the protests by locals against the super refinery project at Barsu-Solgaon at Rajapur, all eyes now are on the three coastal Konkan belt’s Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts on Saturday in wake of high-profile visits of leaders of warring groups.

Locals are opposing the soil-strata testing for the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) project.

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The Rs 3 lakh crore project would be the largest single location refinery complex in the world with a capacity of 60 million tonnes. The Indian consortium, which signed an MoU with Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) for setting up India's largest refinery and petroleum complex, consists of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray would be visiting Barsu to meet the locals and agitators and hear them out.

After that Uddhav would visit Mahad in the Raigad district and would address a public rally. "I am going to meet people of Barsu on Saturday," Uddhav said on Thursday in the run up to the visit.

He also lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for shifting big-ticket projects like Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata-Airbus to Gujarat. "If the refinery project is good, go to the people and explain about it, address their queries," Uddhav said.

Incidentally, Uddhav’s estranged cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray would also be in Konkan and address a public rally, either in Ratnagiri or Sindhudurg.

On the other hand, Union MSME Minister and senior BJP leader Narayan Rane and his sons - former Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Dr Nilesh Rane and Kankavli MLA Nitesh Rane - have opposed the visit of Uddhav.

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The senior Rane, a former Chief Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition reacting to the proposed Uddhav visit, said: “Let me see how he comes… I would hold a parallel gathering, I will not allow politics against development.” Later on Thursday, he said he would be in Konkan on Saturday in support of the project.

Uddhav’s aide Sanjay Raut, however, has retorted back saying: “We would go, let them try and stop.”

The RRPCL project - which was earlier planned at Nanar - had to be scrapped ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as part of the deal between BJP and Shiv Sena for an alliance. The Shiv Sena has been siding with locals.

But when Maha Vikas Aghadi was in power, Uddhav, as Chief Minister, communicated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and cleared the alternate site at Barsu. However, now the Shiv Sena (UBT) has taken a stand that the government must not go ahead if the locals are opposed to it.