MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena raised the pitch in its ongoing battle with the BJP, by publicising a 2001 State government report which accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of ‘bypassing legal procedure’ and ‘abuse of power’ during his stint as Mayor of Nagpur. The Sena move is seen as an attack on Mr. Fadnavis’s claims of bringing transparency to the BMC’s functioning.
Sena MLC Anil Parab said, “Here we a have a CM who is... engulfed in irregularities during his tenure as a Mayor. Not only was the Mayor indicted, around 99 BJP corporators in the Nagpur civic body faced cases and were arrested based on the Nandlal Committee report. Is this the kind of transparency that BJP wants to bring in Mumbai?”
Mr. Parab presented the report findings, which said the Nagpur Municipal Corporation did not hold general body meetings for 15 months from March 1997 to August 2000. During this period, four people held the Mayor’s post, including Mr. Fadnavis. The report sought action against Mr Fadnavis. “We wonder why no action was taken against him as the Congress was in power in 2001,” he said.
On their part, BJP leaders have been accusing Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray of using shell companies for money laundering. On Wednesday, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the Sena and Congress have joined hands for the elections to the Raigad Zilla Parishad. He also produced a photograph of a poster showing candidates of both parties as well as those of Sena founder Bal Thackeray and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Reacting to the allegations Mr. Fadnavis said, “The report was a ploy by the Congress government to defame us. We went to the High Court and then to Supreme Court where we stood vindicated ,” he said.
On Tuesday, Education Minister and senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde too had made similar allegations claiming Congress and Sena have a hidden alliance in over 90 wards in Mumbai.
