Uddhav announces protest march against corruption in BMC on July 1

Move comes day after the Shinde government announced SIT probe into financial irregularities in functioning of civic body during Sena regime. Sena (UBT) youth leader Aaditya Thackeray will lead the protest march, and anybody can participate in it, including the alliance parties in MVA, added Thackeray.

Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray, Sena (UBT) chief, on Tuesday announced that his party will stage a protest march to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpoation (BMC) headquarters on July 1 to question the “scams” done by the administration of the civic body.

Mumbai, India - June 20, 2023: Uddhav Thackeray adddressing to media during press conference at Sena Bhavan, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

This comes a day after chief minister Eknath Shinde announced a special investigation team (SIT) to probe alleged financial irregularities in the BMC’s during Shiv Sena rule.

Sena (UBT) youth leader Aaditya Thackeray will lead the protest march, and anybody can participate in it, including the alliance parties in MVA, added Thackeray.

Shinde has reacted saying that that the announced march is a poor attempt to mislead Mumbaikars and to cover up the corruption during their regime.

Amid a rise in the number of defections from his party to Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Thackeray on Tuesday held a meeting of former corporators of the party in Mumbai.

Later, Thackeray announced the protest march, which is being seen as a retaliation for the announcement of the SIT probe. The move is also expected to boost the morale of former corporators of the Thackeray faction, who are said to be under pressure from the Shinde-led Sena to switch loyalties.

“We are not scared of the SIT probing the works done during our regime in the BMC. Let them conduct the inquiry. The act of setting up the SIT is nothing but a defence mechanism and hypocrisy by the Shinde government because they are actually looting the BMC through administration.

“The state government has announced the SIT to cover up scams like cement road construction, gravel purchase and furniture scam,” said Thackeray.

The five-year tenure of the elected house at the BMC ended in February 2022, but the civic elections are yet to be held. After the end of the tenure of elected representatives, the municipal commissioner I S Chahal has been appointed as the administrator of the civic body.

“The term of BMC’s elected members ended in February last year. It has been more than a year that there is no elected body as the Shinde-Fadnavis government has no courage to call for the elections,” said Thackeray.

“In the absence of elected members, the BMC administration is taking decisions and spending the taxpayer’s money arbitrarily. This is leading to scams and extra expenses in works.

“To question the BMC over these scams on behalf of Mumbaikars, the party will hold a march to the BMC headquarters on July 1,” said Thackeray.

Thackeray added that there are reports that the BMC administrator has used around ₹7,0000 to ₹8,000 crore from the fixed deposit of the civic body.

“Under our party regime, the BMC’s fixed deposits reached over ₹90,000 crore. But the BJP has an eye on this money and wants to spend all the taxpayer’s money to make the BMC bankrupt. Once all this money is spent, Mumbai will have to beg for money from the Central government.” said Thackeray.

Reacting to Thackeray’s announcement, Shinde said, “After the announcement of the SIT, they (Thackeray) are scared that their misdeeds will come out. So, to mislead the Mumbaikars, they have announced this march. But they have no moral right to do so as they have to answer for the corruption of thousands of crores of rupees in the last 15 years,” said Shinde.