Mumbai: A year after he walked out of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party with 39 Shiv Sena MLAs, claiming to be the real Sena, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has now set his sights on shoring up his popularity in Mumbai, which continues to remain a stronghold of the Thackerays.
Despite Shinde having been in the chief minister’s chair for a whole year and his party being allotted the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and bow and arrow symbol by the Election Commission in February this year, the Shinde-led Sena has been slow in rolling out an organisational structure in Mumbai to rival that of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
Leaders of the Shinde-led party say it has about a hundred shakhas in the city of Mumbai, compared to 227 of the Shiv Sena (UBT) — one in every municipal ward.
With elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country’s richest civic body, likely to be held later this year, CM Shinde has hit the ground running. Besides projecting himself as a chief minister who fast-tracks infrastructure projects and puts the BMC’s funds to proper public use, Shinde has been taking on the Shiv Sena (UBT) with allegations of graft and official inquiries in a bid to expand his popularity in Mumbai.
According to political commentator Sanjay Jog, the BMC is the core focal point for both factions of the Sena laying claim to Bal Thackeray’s legacy.
“Shinde has the urban development department, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) under him. If he wants to counter the BJP [an ally in the Shinde-led government], he feels the need to increase his (faction’s) presence in the BMC,” Jog told ThePrint.
Speaking at the Shiv Sena Foundation Day function at NESCO Goregaon Monday, Shinde said, “Mumbai is changing. We have decided to concretise roads, money should flow into proper hands and should be used for people’s work. Mumbai is getting cleaner and more beautiful.”
Shinde added that, along with Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he had decided to focus on redevelopment projects in Mumbai to bring back the Marathi manoos (common man), who, he claimed, “left the city” owing to former CM Uddhav Thackeray.
Responding to Shinde’s comments, Anand Dubey, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson, told ThePrint “Shinde is just trying to help ‘Maha Shakti'(BJP). He doesn’t have much standing in Mumbai. If he has courage, they should take Mumbai corporation election within a month. People have given us [Thackeray-led Sena] mandate [in BMC] for last 25 years only because we have worked. So if he tries to come to Mumbai, we will face him.”
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Shinde’s warning & ED searches
In the same speech Monday, Shinde also warned the Thackerays that they would have to pay for the “fraud committed during Covid-19” — an apparent reference to the alleged multi-crore Covid jumbo centre scam.
On Wednesday, officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched at least 15 premises linked to close aides of Uddhav and his son Aaditya Thackeray in connection with the alleged scam. Among those under the scanner are Suraj Chavan, a close aide of Aaditya, and IAS officer Sanjeev Jaiswal — who was then additional municipal commissioner of the BMC.
In January this year, the ED also recorded the statement of BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal in connection with the case.
The ED registered a case in this regard in January this year on the basis of a police case filed in August last year on a complaint by BJP’s Kirit Somaiya, alleging misappropriation of funds by the BMC in connection with payments made to Lifeline Hospital Management Services, which was contracted to set up jumbo Covid centres in Mumbai during the pandemic.
Considered a close aide of Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, Sujit Patkar was among the four partners of Lifeline Hospital Management Services named in the police FIR.
Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sachin Ahir has termed Wednesday’s raids as unfortunate and wondered whether the intention was to exact political revenge.
SIT probe into CAG findings
The searches by ED come two days after CM Shinde announced that a special investigation team (SIT) will probe the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into contracts worth Rs 12,000 crore awarded by the BMC between 28 November, 2019 and 31 October, 2022.
The CAG had in November last year conducted a special audit into contracts awarded by the civic body at the request of the state government.
According to the special audit report, which ThePrint has accessed, it was observed that the BMC awarded 20 contracts valued at Rs 214.48 crore across two departments (information technology and roads) without inviting tenders — amounting to a violation of provisions of the BMC’s Manual of Procurement.
In its report, the CAG also criticised the BMC for improper handling of funds, lack of transparency, and mismanagement in connection with the award of contracts related to roads, waste management, and other projects.
The report added that the tendering process was also not followed properly, which resulted in tenders being awarded to contractors unfairly.
Reacting to the formation of an SIT to probe the findings of the CAG, Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday questioned the Shinde-led government’s intentions by saying that it was like the “pot calling the kettle black”.
“We will take out a big protest rally to BMC (headquarters) on 1 July against the misuse of funds by the Shinde administration,” he said alleging misuse of “Rs 9,000 crore of the BMC’s FDs (fixed deposits)”.
National working president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is an ally of the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), Supriya Sule too cast doubts on the Shinde government’s intentions.
“I have only one question for the CM. Those (Shinde) making allegations now, were in the MVA government for two-and-a-half years, why did they not remember morality then? Now, after walking out (of the alliance), they feel that something is wrong,” she told reporters Tuesday.
Shinde’s focus on Mumbai
Jog said that Shinde’s actions may be part of a multi-pronged strategy to take on the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) in Mumbai.
“He (Shinde) wants to show the BJP that we are together but that doesn’t mean you take me for granted,” Jog said, adding that the chief minister also wants to project himself as a man working for the development of Mumbai.
“Thirdly, he wants to send a message that the BMC FDs are for the people of Mumbai and their development. I am bringing that money out and then focussing on infrastructure projects and also at the same time, say that he has not quit Hindutva,” Jog told ThePrint.
Over the last few months, Shinde has made efforts to ensure that he is personally seen taking stock of infrastructure projects on the ground.
To that effect, every milestone of the proposed Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) is inaugurated as an event.
In addition, Shinde is also making sure that the proposed Coastal Road project in Mumbai — which was Uddhav’s pet project — is completed by the end of this year or early next year during his tenure as chief minister. Shinde has already announced that the Coastal Road will be named after Sambhaji, the son of 17th-Century Maratha ruler Shivaji.
The chief minister was even present for a late-night inspection of the fully underground Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro’s line 3 last month, after which he addressed the media at the site around 11.30 pm.
And not just big-ticket infra projects, Shinde — who was till now seen as Sena’s point man in Thane — is also overseeing desilting of drains in Mumbai ahead of the monsoons. In May, he even stepped inside a drain to inspect the BMC’s pre-monsoon preparedness.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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