Sharad Pawar To Felicitate PM Modi With Lokmanya Tilak Award Today, Share Stage With Ajit Pawar

PM Modi will arrive in Pune on Tuesday morning and lay the foundation stone of various development projects, besides flagging off metro trains.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with NCP president Sharad Pawar ( Image Source :Getty )

Days after a revolt by Ajit Pawar led to a vertical split of the party, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will share the stage with his nephew, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday. Pawar is scheduled to felicitate Modi with the Lokmanya Tilak Award at a function at the SP College ground in Pune.

Rohit Tilak, vice president of the trust, confirmed to PTI that Pawar would attend the award ceremony.

"Pawar Saheb, who is the chief guest, will be attending the event. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, and Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is also a trustee, will also be attending the event," he said.

PM Modi will arrive in Pune on Tuesday morning and lay the foundation stone of various development projects. After his arrival, Modi will perform "pooja" at Dagdusheth Mandir.

As per PIB, around 11.45 am, PM Modi will be conferred the Lokmanya Tilak National Award. The award, constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak, is presented every year on August 1. 

August 1 marks the death anniversary of social reformer and Indian freedom activist Lokmanya Tilak.

Several Opposition parties, inlcuding Shiv Sena (Uddhav) and Congress, had persuaded Pawar not to attend the Pune event. Shiv Sena (UT) MP Arvind Sawant said Sharad Pawar should reconsider his decision.

"Leaders of their party (BJP) are destroying the Constitution of India, he (Pawar) should not go there," PTI quoted Sawant as saying.

PM Modi To Flag Off Metro Trains, Hand Over Houses Under PMAY

After the event, PM Modi will flag off Metro trains and inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various development projects.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the waste to energy plant under Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which has been developed at a cost of about Rs 300 crore. 

The plant will use up about 2.5 lakh MT of waste annually to produce electricity, the PIB statement said.

PM Modi will hand over more than 1,280 houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by PCMC. He will also hand over more than 2,650 PMAY houses constructed by the Pune Municipal Corporation.

The PIB statement said Modi will also lay the foundation stone for around 1,190 PMAY houses to be constructed by the PCMC. The foundation stone of more than 6,400 houses to be constructed by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority will also be laid by the PM.