Gujarat Parivartan Party candidate Jagruti Pandya has alleged that a team of BJP-led Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation officials removed posters and banners with images of her slain husband.
Jagruti (46), whose family has been calling Haren Pandya’s murder politically motivated, pointing the finger at Chief Minister Narendra Modi, said the posters and banners had been put up by some sympathisers in the Paldi and Guptanagar areas. On Wednesday morning, she saw AMC vans near Dharnidhar Derasar at Paldi with a number of banners lying on the ground. Some people there prevented the AMC officials from removing any more posters and they left later, she said.
Jagruti, whose campaign theme is “Justice for Haren,” said her party had not put up the posters. “In any case, the action reflects the vindictive mindset of the BJP. I can well understand their anger or intolerance towards me but what did Haren do? He was a member of BJP till his last breath.”
When contacted, Mayor Asit Bora said he was not aware of the removal of posters, but if had happened, it must have been done in accordance with the electoral code. He said posters could not be put up just like that without proper permission.
Jagruti is in the fray in Ellis Bridge here, which constituency her husband had refused to vacate to enable Mr. Modi to contest from, after he took over as Chief Minister in October 2001.
