Mumbai: After holding successful rallies in the state for local body polls, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was left red-faced on Saturday due to a low turnout at a rally organised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the municipal corporation elections in Pune.  Mr Fadnavis had to leave without addressing the crowd as there were hardly any people being seated on the first three rows.

However, Mr Fadnavis tweeted later, saying, “I have cancelled my public meeting at Pune due to miscommunication of time of rally. I regret for the same. Heading towards Pimpri-Chinchwad.”

The CM later addressed a rally in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where municipal corporation elections are scheduled in less than a week’s time. Later, around 5 pm, he held a rally in Nashik, which saw a lukewarm response.  

Sanjay Kakade, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, said, “It was not like the turnout was low at the rally but it was the miscommunication about the timings of the rally that resulted in a low turnout. There was contention over keeping the rally at either 2 pm or 4 pm and this led to confusion in informing the general public (about the timing).”

Reacting to the development, Ashok Chavan, state Congress president, said, “The empty chairs at the CM’s Pune rally was the reply from the people against the BJP government. I did four meetings in Pune but every rally had at least 3,000-4,000 people. I went to Pune urban, rural, Chakan and Pimpri-Chinchwad and received a good response. Even businessmen and traders’ delegation met me in Pune expressing unhappiness about BJP.”