Politics, for us, is only during the elections: Aaditya Thackeray

Maharashtra Minister of Tourism and Environment, Aaditya Thackeray was speaking at the launch of the Patripool girder in Kalyan on Saturday morning

The Maharashtra Minister of Tourism and Environment, Aaditya Thackeray, took a dig at BJP, remarking that his Shiv Sena government indulges in politics only during the elections but after that, the focus is solely on development, unlike the opposition party.

State tourism and environment minister Aaditya Thackeray (middle) during the launch of the girder. (Rishikesh Choudhary/HT)

Thackeray was speaking at the launch of the Patripool girder in Kalyan on Saturday morning. Thackeray added that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has taken up several such developmental works like the Patripool RoB across the state.

Thackeray said, “Patripool has been a major issue. However, now the work has been initiated after the mega blocks were permitted by the railway. Similarly, several such developmental works are undertaken across the state by the MVA,” said Thackeray.

He added, “Politics is a part of everything. Politics, for us, is only during the elections, after which we focus on work. Other parties continue doing politics throughout.”

While Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde has been taking all the credit for the work of the Patripool bridge through his social media handles, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have been slamming the state government and Shinde for delaying the project.

The 104-year-old Patripool bridge was dismantled on November 18, 2018, following which there has been a demand to build the new bridge as it affected the traffic movement in Kalyan-Dombivli.

BJP’s Mahila Aghadi Zilla president Rekha Chaudhary, who was at the launch, said, “The work of the bridge is carried out very slowly. People have been protesting against the delay. The entire credit for the push to the project goes to the central government. There are several other infrastructure projects like the Mankoli, Durgadi, Kopar bridge. The state government should emphasise on these projects.”

Shinde, on the other hand, claimed that this is an important event for the city. He said, “The planning and procedure for the new bridge was initiated after the bridge was dismantled two years ago. This took time as we had to plan from the beginning and also redesign the plan due to a few hurdles. We had to get permissions from the railways and the local body. After that, the lockdown affected the work as workers were not available. However, we managed to speed up the work and now it is in its final stage,” added Shinde.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) MLA Raju Patil, who reached the spot, was not allowed by the police.

“I reached the spot to have a look at the girder launch. Police thought I arrived for a protest at the site. If I was protesting, I intimate about it in advance. Only by building the Patripool bridge, the traffic woes in the city won’t end. There are several other projects that need to be prioritised. The government and civic body has failed to do it. The 90-feet road connecting the Patripool bridge is still not constructed completely.”