Mumbai The row over chief minister Eknath Shinde’s MP son Shrikant sitting on the former’s chair took another turn as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) registered a police complaint against the Shinde faction spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre for tweeting an apparently morphed picture of NCP MP Supriya Sule. NCP’s women cell leader Aditi Nalawade on Saturday lodged a police complaint against Mhatre accusing her of posting a morphed photograph of Sule on social media.
The controversy began with NCP and Sena leaders posting a photograph of Shrikant Shinde sitting in the chair while a board behind him read; “Chief Minister, Maharashtra State.”
NCP leader Ravikant Varpe posted the picture and termed him a ‘super CM’ while Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted in Hindi, “Be it unofficially, but the son is ruling from his father’s chair…”
However, Shrikant Shinde clarified on Friday evening that the picture was not from Mantralaya but of their private office at Shinde family’s residence in Thane. Shrikant said both him and his father use the office and the board was kept when the chief minister held meetings through video conferencing. “I was not sitting in the CM’s chair. The picture was mischievously taken from such an angle that I am seen to have sat in the chair in front of the board,” he said.
In response to NCP’s act, Mhatre on Friday night tweeted a photo of NCP MP Supriya Sule sitting in a chair that appeared to be that of chief minister along with the then home minister Dilip Walse Patil and health minister Rajesh Tope sitting on her two sides. It was asked if she was sitting in the chair, apparently of then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
NCP’s Nalawade filed an online complaint with Mumbai police demanding for an investigation into the morphed photo. In the complaint, she demanded action against Twitter and Mhatre for posting a morphed photo.
In a series of tweets, Nalwade said, “Be original, copies fail too fast! @sheetal Mhatre1…the picture is from the online conference when the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray participated in an online review meeting on Covid situation on April 23, 2021 by hon. prime minister Narendra Modi. The CM participated in it from his official residence Varsha, while the then-home minister Dilip Walse Patil and health minister Rajesh Tope participated in the meeting from Mantralaya. The picture (of Supriya Sule) used in the tweet (by Mhatre) is from a function this year.”
Mhatre, in her clarification on Saturday said, “The picture I tweeted yesterday was making rounds on social media. The cyber cell of the Mumbai police will probe into its veracity since the NCP has lodged a complaint against me. I am taking legal opinion in the matter. I would also like to remind that the NCP too had tweeted a morphed picture of MP Shrikant Shinde which has maligned his as well as CM’s image.”