MVA protests cancellation of underground metro inauguration, Mohol claps back

Among those participating in the agitation were Congress city unit president Arvind Shinde and other party leaders Mohan Joshi and Ramesh Bagwe

Cancellation of the underground metro inauguration after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Pune visit was recently called off has sparked a political slugfest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). So much so that MVA leaders demonstrated in front of the Civil Court metro station, demanding that the underground metro begin operations on Friday itself without waiting for the PM to inaugurate it.

The BJP leader further said that the PM’s visit had to be called off due to inclement weather and that though he was unable to visit Pune, he had set September 29 as the date for virtual inauguration. (HT PHOTO)

Among those participating in the agitation were Congress city unit president Arvind Shinde and other party leaders Mohan Joshi and Ramesh Bagwe; Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) city unit president Prashant Jagtap; and Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Thurkude.

Congress’s Shinde said, “The BJP is trying to play politics over the metro. The underground metro is ready but the BJP forced a delay by inviting the PM before the announcement of the assembly elections. Instead of waiting for anyone, ideally, operations of the underground metro should begin. Even if the PM was unable to visit the city on Thursday, he could have inaugurated the metro virtually on the same day.”

NCP’s Jagtap said, “The PM has visited Pune six times for groundbreaking and inauguration ceremonies of the Pune Metro. As the BJP did nothing else, it is inaugurating the same project in several phases. It is our demand that operations of the underground metro begin immediately.”

Meanwhile Pune MP and minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol hit back at the opposition saying, “All over the world, metro projects are inaugurated in phases. The opposition got upset only because the PM was to visit the city…”

“The Congress-NCP coalition was in power for the last many decades. It did nothing for the metro. Prime Minister Modi has carried out groundbreaking of the Pune Metro and visits the city to inaugurate the projects after completion. This is our commitment but the opposition only wants to politicise the issue,” Mohol said.

The BJP leader further said that the PM’s visit had to be called off due to inclement weather and that though he was unable to visit Pune, he had set September 29 as the date for virtual inauguration of the underground metro so it was only a matter of time before the underground metro began operations.