BJP sees Sena hand in damage to its ‘pol khol’ campaign vehicle at Chembur

The ‘pol khol’ campaign launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections witnessed tension between BJP and Shiv Sena in two different incidents on Monday night

The ‘pol khol’ campaign launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections witnessed tension between BJP and Shiv Sena in two different incidents on Monday night. A vehicle that was part of the campaign was damaged at Chembur, while workers from both the parties came face to face at Kandivali over a stage erected for the drive.

The campaign van that was damaged at Chembur. Satish Bate/HT Photo

The campaign aims to expose the alleged corruption in the civic body ruled by Sena for more than 25 years. The vehicle is part of 40 such vans which have a screen mounted on it with speakers to deliver speeches. BJP on Monday announced that the vehicles would drive around the city, through every street, until the BMC polls, which are expected to be held later this year.

On Tuesday morning, BJP filed a police complaint. The campaign for Chembur, however, was flagged off using the damaged vehicle.

“The attack was expected, but the campaign will not halt. This is an attempt to deviate us from the campaign against corruption,” leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis said.

Leader of the opposition in the council Pravin Darekar said the attack was orchestrated by the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi. Chembur police station would be gheraoed if the culprits were not nabbed immediately, he said.

Both the leaders claimed that Sena was scared of the campaign.

Reacting to this, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, “Are we scared? There is no such word in the Shiv Sena dictionary.”

About the second incident, Kandivali East MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar said, “We launched the campaign at Patra Chawl in Goregaon on Sunday. Opposite the venue is a Sena shakha. So, Sena workers objected to the programme. We have spoken to the police, and a stage will be set up near Kandivali railway station with requisite police permission.”

BJP held two public rallies at Kandivali and Dadar on Tuesday in the presence of former state ministers Sudhir Mungantiwar and Ashish Shelar.

Bhatkhalkar said, “All the 36 assembly constituencies and 227 municipal wards will see big rallies as well as chowk sabhas over the next 10 days. A video of a speech by Fadnavis will be played on LEDs and pamphlets will be distributed exposing the corrupt rule in the civic body. There are a number of issues of corruption including sewage treatment plants, Byculla zoo development, and setting up of Covid-19 centres that will be highlighted. We are getting a good response to the campaign.”

A statement issued by the party has appealed to people to uproot Sena from the BMC for the development of the city. “The civic body with an annual budget of more than ₹40,000 crore is in shambles. Despite having spent ₹21,000 crore in 24 years on road repairs, the roads are in bad shape. After spending ₹6,000 crore annually on healthcare, the BMC-run hospitals are short of medicines, while there was corruption in the purchases made for the covid-19 management,” it said.