Tearing into the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) claims of making Pune a developed city, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the NCP’s poor governance had left much to be desired.
Addressing a rally in Baner on Monday evening, the Chief Minister hurled well-aimed barbs at the NCP, while speaking about the city’s untapped potential and its capacity for sustainable development. “When it comes to Maharashtra, investors regard Pune as the first destination, such is the city’s potential. But the NCP, through its misrule of the Pune Municipal Corporation, has left the city in a shambolic state,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
High pollution
He remarked that poor planning had fostered traffic crises and contributed to high pollution levels in a once verdant city.
“Today, the citizens of Pune are forced to endure chronic water shortages owing to the shoddy policymaking of the NCP, which has treated the PMC as the goose that laid golden eggs,” he said. “The NCP, in its greed, has killed off the goose.”
The Chief Minister touted BJP’s initiatives like the sanctioning of the Pune Metro Rail project and the inclusion of Pune in the ‘Smart Cities’ list as a panacea for the city’s urban woes. Mr. Fadnavis addressed three more rallies in the Kothrud and Parvati areas. The BJP is determined to shake off the NCP’s grip on the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations. In 2012, the NCP won a second consecutive landslide in the PCMC, effortlessly securing 81 of the 128 seats, leaving the BJP with a paltry three. It also came out on top in the PMC, becoming the single-largest party with 51 seats in the 152-seat civic body, while the BJP came fourth securing 26 seats.
However, the BJP rattled the NCP in the 2014 State Assembly election by sweeping all eight constituencies in Pune. It is similarly riding high on the significant number of heavyweight defections from the NCP and is poised to supplant Mr. Pawar’s party in the PMC and the PCMC.
