‘BJP has doled out BMC projects and advances to favoured contractors…it runs into 3 lakh crore’ | Mumbai News

This is the first election in over two decades where Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin, the MNS chief Raj Thackeray, are fighting the polls together. In an interview to TOI, Uddhav said the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS have come together for the sake of Marathi and Mumbai unlike the MahaYuti which is bound together by the spoils of office. Excerpts from an interview:Q. Are the BMC poll dynamics different this time, you have tied up with your cousin Raj Thackeray?A. All elections are different. But these elections are being fought with deceit and bad intent to erase the identity of Mumbai and the Marathi manoos. So it is different in that sense.BJP is saying this tie-up with MNS is an opportunistic alliance. So? BJP has gone with Congress in Ambernath, AIMIM in Akot. What was that for? For playing sports? We’ve come together to preserve Mumbai and Maharashtra’s Marathi identity whereas unabated corruption is the glue that keeps BJP and Eknath Shinde together in MahaYuti. In the last five years, you have had an alliance with almost all parties in Maharashtra. What is new about the alliance with MNS?See, we were in alliance with BJP. We went with Congress because BJP forced us to go there. They failed to keep their promise and broke our trust. To teach BJP a lesson, we went with Congress and formed the govt. With MNS, Marathi is the common theme and agenda along with Mumbai’s interest.Your alliance with the Congress broke…The Congress announced unilaterally that they are going solo. So it is their issue now. We will see what happens on Jan 16 now.There has been a lot of rebellion in the Sena (UBT) and MNS rank and file.Elections and ticket distribution are always testing times. We can only field one candidate from one seat. So there are many good candidates, some get upset and leave. We have put up 70-80% new faces. Those old faces knew they would not win and stepped back. Today’s politics is the IPL (Indian Political League). We don’t know who is playing which side.Corruption has become one of the main issues in the BMC elections this time. Both sides accuse the other of causing a massive loss to the exchequer. BJP says the city suffered for decades under the Sena (UBT) regime.Corruption was never so transparent in BMC as it is under the present govt. In the 4 years from 2022 to 2026, they have indulged in corruption to the extent of Rs 3 lakh crore. They have given out work orders of Rs 3 lakh crore, doled out advances to favourite contractors. These are all kickbacks. And now they are asking us questions. In the 4 years after the chief minister appointed an administrator to the BMC, it was he and the urban development minister who ran BMC. In our time, there was an elected body and all parties were in the standing committee. Today we don’t even know what tenders are floated and what work orders are given. Supreme Court had to scrap a tender, but no action was taken against contractors. The chief minister has said BMC’s fixed deposits (FDs) are not meant for hoarding. Are FDs meant for distribution to contractors? FDs are meant to keep the system running for the next 100 years.They have said that they are spending on infrastructure.BMC now has a committed liability of Rs 3 lakh crore. Who is going to pay all this? Once their term is over, one will go to Nagpur and the other to a five-star farm and the third to his uncle in Baramati. They are giving money to contractors through advance mobilisation and taking kickbacks. The entire city is dug up and air quality levels are worse than ever before. People are forced to breathe cement and dust. This is development without planning. They are cutting trees that give oxygen.You said 2 Gujaratis will swallow Mumbai?See, who has got the contracts to install electric meters in Mumbai? Who is developing Dharavi? Who has got the Deonar dumping ground land? Who is getting the salt pan lands, all 256 acres? Who got the Kurla Mother Dairy land? Who is getting all the TDR from Dharavi? Who is getting to create another Dharavi in Mulund? Where is the bullet train terminus coming up? If you answer these questions, then you will know what I’m saying. I’m not against development, but we want to expose their real face, which is hidden under the garb of development.There is also a communal element to the campaign this time?They come and talk about Hindu-Muslim and Khans. But they only want to create divisions among people and make money.The real Shiv Sena and MLA disqualification case is pending in the SC even now.Yes, after CJI Ramanna, we have had justices UU Lalit, DY Chandrachud, Sanjeev Khanna, Bhushan Gavai and now CJI Suryakant. So there have been 6 CJIs till now. I wonder if we will end up saying “Ab tak 56”. We are counting the number of CJIs, what else can we do? We are counting the judges who are counting days. After the BMC polls, this petition will have no meaning. Justice delayed is justice denied.