BMC polls: Congress chargesheets' Shiv Sena, BJP

Mumbai: The Mumbai unit of Congress on Monday released a ‘chargesheet’ against ruling parties in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC), Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The documents were released by ex-Union minister and Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor. “Mumbai has been misruled for 20 years. I want to appeal Mumbai voters that you gave them (Sena and BJP) four chances but they have totally failed. Let us give us one chance because Mumbai deserves better,” said Mr Tharoor after releasing the compiled documents.

As the BMC election draws closer, Mumbai Congress is trying to set the narrative of its campaign by highlighting civic issues that plague Mumbaikars. “It is a documentation of the BMC’s failure on issues like water supply, roads, garbage, solid waste management, collapsed fire brigade system, hospitals and schools,” said Sanjay Nirupam, city chief of party. He added, “BJP’s chargesheet against Shiv Sena on the BMC has no meaning because they were part of an alliance that ruled city for 20 years. It will be seen as BJP making charges against itself”

Highlighting the main points of the documents, Mr Tharoor said, “As it is the richest municipality, the BMC doesn’t have a funds issue. In the last three years the civic body spent '1 lakh crore on different services. But has anything changed in the city? Rather, the situation is deteriorating continuously.”

The ex-minister also took a dig at the civic body’s penguin acquisition. “I am not against penguins. But the BMC spent '65 crore on them. It could have revamped Byculla Zoo in this amount, where thousands of children visits every year”. Referring the death of a penguin, Mr Tharoor asked, “How can you manage Mumbaikars well if you failed to save the life of one penguin?”

When asked about ongoing spat between Sena and BJP over transparency, he said he agreed on the need for the same. “In fact it was the Congress party that brought the biggest Act on transparency: the Right to Information (RTI). But nowadays the Modi government is not giving the information sought. Even the PM’s degree is being hidden by government,” he said.

Mr Tharoor was also asked about the possibility of an alliance between Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in the city on the lines of Uttar Pradesh. But he said, “Such issues should be seen in the local perspective. The NCP is contesting against us in Kerala; but in Maharashtra, we were in alliance for 15 years. So, these are area-specific decisions.”