Former Union Minister and spokesperson of the Congress, Manish Tewari, has asked people to vote for his party in the BMC polls to “end the 21-year-old stagnation” in the city’s development.
Speaking at a press conference here, Mr. Tewari compared the development of Mumbai and Delhi in the last 20 years. He said Delhi, which was ruled by the Congress from 1998 to 2013, has seen a complete makeover while Mumbai reels under problems caused by primitive infrastructure.
Congress’s chance
“Look at the roads, cleanliness and sanitation or the condition of the drainage systems during monsoons. All this falls under the responsibility of the BMC. For the last 20 years, we have had this stagnation. The time has come for the people to give the Congress a chance.”
He attributed all the major infrastructure projects in the city like the construction of the international airport, Metro rail and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link to the UPA government. He also said the BJP-Shiv Sena government has “only pushed the button” on ongoing projects.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, he said, “Regardless of whether it is the Lok Sabha elections or the BMC elections, you see the same face. It seems to me like Modi ji wants to become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Now, after coming to Mumbai, I feel that the PM wants to become the mayor of BMC. This is because the BJP is facing a complete bankruptcy of leadership.”
Criticising the ongoing BJP-Shiv Sena battle, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said the interests of the people have taken a backseat. “Both the parties have failed. Their fight is farcical. The parties are negligent of the fact that the people will be the ones who will suffer the most.”
Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha alleged that there has been a major pothole scam under the current regime. “In a pothole project where 2,000-kilometre-long roads were to be repaired, there’s been a scam worth ₹9000 crore. That translates to ₹4.5 crore for every kilometre.”
‘Economic disaster’
Mr Tewari dubbed demonetisation the ‘worst economic disaster’. “There should be an independent investigation on the note ban. The IMF forecast for economic growth is only 5.5%. If you extrapolate this with the 2004-05 base year, this means the economy is growing only at 3.5%. What PM Modi has succeeded in doing is drag down an economy growing at 7.8% from 2004 to 2014. The implications of note ban is going to grave. I am confident that this silent anger will manifest itself in the BMC polls.”
