Mumbai: Unfazed by criticism for the BMC’s poor response to the torrential rain and its impact on Tuesday, the Shiv Sena, which runs the civic body, gave itself a pat on the back. On Wednesday, as the city picked itself up and found its feet again, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray claimed he is answerable to the people and not the Opposition.
“This is not the time to play politics over yesterday’s incident. Those making allegations against us should first check whether they even tried to help people. Had the BMC not spent crores of rupees on cleaning nullahs, the water would not have drained even today. We can fight with nature only up to a certain extent,” Mr. Thackeray said. He added that though heavy rain was expected, its intensity on Tuesday wasn’t.
Claiming he could ‘expose’ those blaming the Sena and BMC for the situation, he said this wasn’t the right time for a blame game. “I won’t stoop so low today as to bring politics into it. But yes, a number of agencies such as the BMC, Metro and Railways have stakes in Mumbai and there needs to be coordination between them. This has to be looked into.”
The Sena has been saying for years that the BMC alone should not be held responsible for waterlogging in the city, as many agencies including the MMRDA and the Mumbai Port Trust too own land in the city, but the civic body faces the brunt when things go wrong during the monsoon.
Reacting to Mr. Thackeray’s take on the situation, city BJP chief Ashish Shelar too criticised the Sena without naming it. “Are these limitations imposed by nature or the rulers? Photos of nullah cleaning were clicked, but what about those whose homes were destroyed when water them? Where were the rulers of the civic body? Were they hiding in a manhole?” he said. Till 2017, BJP was sharing power in the BMC with the Sena for 25 years.
Yuva Sena functionary Sagar Pardeshi tweeted a photo claiming the BJP has photoshopped the Sena’s name to take undue credit for relief work being done by his party, prompting a response from Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray. “Disgusting. 1) Stop photoshopping other help with your logo. 2) Take all credit bt assist ppl. Credit games fr politics isn’t everything. It’s not the time for branding, especially through photoshop and social media. It’s time to get down and assist people,” he tweeted.
Joining the blame game, NCP leader Dhananjay Munde said the BJP and Sena are jointly responsible for “allowing Mumbai to sink”. “Uddhav Thackeray had assured that the city would not get waterlogged this monsoon. What happened to his tall claims? Where have the thousands of crores spent on desilting work gone?” he asked.
