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BJP to go solo in BMC polls, will end mafia raj in civic body: Kirit Somaiya
While both the BJP and the Sena leaders have unofficially maintained that an alliance for BMC polls was unlikely, so far no leader has made the statement officially.
The battle for Mumbai seems to heating up soon after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced redrawing of ward boundaries and reservations earlier this week.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, Kirit Somaiya on Wednesday said that his party would contest all 227 wards in Mumbai and any alliance with the Sena had been ruled out by the party top brass. He added that it was time to end the mafia raj that controlled the city civic body.
“Post delimitation, we have shifted into the third gear of preparations for the civic polls. There was never any question of forming an alliance with the Shiv Sena. We have already started looking out for candidates for all wards. I am just reiterating what has been our stand so far,’’ said Somaiya.
While both the BJP and the Sena leaders have unofficially maintained that an alliance for BMC polls was unlikely, so far no leader has made the statement officially. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, until last year, had gone out of his way to state that the alliance partners would contest civic elections together.
Sources close to the chief minister, however, told HT that so far no final decision has been taken on the alliance for contesting the BMC polls and Somaiya was making statements in his personal capacity. Fadnavis wants to ensure that even if an alliance does not work out before the elections, a way is kept open for post-poll alliance in the civic body.
He also is keen that the bitterness between the Sena and BJP over the BMC polls does not dampen the stability of his state government.
“It has been proven that the Mumbai civic body is ridden with scams. In the state and the Centre where we have our government, corruption has been kept under check. Now, it’s time to clean up the act in BMC. This year, it self as many as three to four scams were exposed in the corporation,’’ Somaiya added to HT, in an apparent jibe to the Sena that has been controlling the BMC for over two decades now.
The MP, however, skipped mentioning that BJP shares power with the Sena in the civic body as well and as such shares at least partial blame for the mess in the BMC.
In the last eight months, the civic commissioner has initiated probes into the roads department over the shoddy state of roads, storm water drains department over the nullah de-silting scam and lately against the building proposal department. All these probes indicate nexus between contractors-officials and point to draining of tax payers’ monies at the cost of public interest. In political circles, it is being said that BJP has systematically exposed this rot to leverage its poll position in the 2017 civic polls.
The state BJP unit, which will hold its executive body meeting at its Dadar headquarters ahead of upcoming local elections, is likely to see more leaders make similar anti-Sena statements.
