Shiv Sena accuses Ashish Shelar of graft
MLC Parab alleges BJP leaders are involved in shady deals over Deonar dump.
Mumbai: After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar levelled charges of match-fixing between Shiv Sena and Congress for the coming Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) elections at a rally, Shiv Sena challenged its former ally to prove the allegations.
The BJP, in return, challenged Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to a debate.
“We challenge Mr Shelar to prove his claims or stop diverting the attention of the people. We want him to name the 42 wards in which he alleged we carried out match-fixing with the Congress,” Sena leader and MLC Anil Parab said in Mumbai.
The Sena and BJP also exchanged salvos over the Deonar dumping ground issue.
BJP Member of Parliament of Kirit Somaiya had accused the Sena leadership of making monetary transactions over the dumping ground.
Reacting to this, Mr Parab said Mr Somaiya habitually makes baseless allegations against the Opposition. “Shelar is involved in financial deals with businessman Jay Shroff. Deonar dumping ground is managed by BJP MP Sanjay Kakade and Jay Shroff’s company. BJP must come clean on it.” Mr Parab said, “We want dumping ground to be shifted scientifically. If the BJP wants to do it now, the state government should provide land at Airoli and Taloja for the disposal of garbage.” However, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari termed Mr Parab’s allegations ‘baseless’.
Mr Parab further claimed that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio has given orders to all police stations to support BJP candidates. In response to these claims, Mr Bhandari said that the Sena should not include the police department in its “petty politics”.
“In politics few things are sacrosanct. The morale of police department is important. We should respect the police constabulary. It’s its right to provide security to the needful people,” said Mr Bhandari. Meanwhile, Mr Somaiya had accused the Sena of wanting to help Akruti builder, which the builder has refuted. “I am not aware of being allotted any land by someone.”