Navi Mumbai: With the first-ever Panvel City Municipal Corporation polls slated to be held on May 24, the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have started a blame game.
The PWP has alleged that the candidates fielded by the BJP have criminal backgrounds. The latter, meanwhile, has countered the claims saying that the PWP has not done any significant work in the city, and was hence stooping to make accusations against the BJP.
“Candidates like Santosh Shetty, and Rajashri Vavekar’s husband, Mahendra Vavekar, run gambling and alcohol centres and have criminal cases against them. What kind of development will a party with criminals do for the city?” said PWP leader Vivek Patil from Panvel.
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BJP MLA Prashant Thakur from Panvel has called the allegations baseless and just a political game. “Every candidate has filed an affidavit declaring their cases, and if there was anything wrong in it, they would have been disqualified, but this is not the case. The PWP has no concrete point to showcase themselves as a party, and hence they have targeted us. I am sure they will continue to come up with new allegations till election day. We are a pro-development party and will continue to work for the development of the city if given a chance,” Mr. Thakur.
Mr. Shetty against whom the allegations have been levelled, has said, “The case is in court. Who are they to declare me a criminal? I have a licence to run a social club, and there is nothing illegal in it. They do not have anything to campaign about, and have come up with these allegations, which are completely baseless.”
The Panvel City Municipal Corporation, which was formed in October 2016, will have its first civic body polls on May 24, with candidates from the Shiv Sena, BJP and PWP in the fray in 78 wards. While the BJP had tried to form an alliance with the Sena, the Sena showed no interest. The PWP, meanwhile, has formed an alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
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