The relations between the ruling saffron alliance partners hit a new low on Wednesday, as the corporators of the two parties raised slogans against their leaders at a function organised at the Brihanmumbai Corporation (BMC) to mark the introduction of GST in the State and the Sena’s women corporators roughed up BJP corporator Makhrand Narvekar ahead of the function.
On a day when Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray expressed his strong reservations about the BJP-led saffron alliance Government’s decision to hold “direct election” to the post of village sarpanchs, the Sena and BJP corporators indulged in an ugly spat at a special function organised at the BMC in the presence of Uddhav and State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
Trouble broke out after Uddhav arrived at the function organised by the BMC to receive the first tranche of compensation amounting to Rs 647.34 crore in lieu of the scrapped octroi from Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
With Uddhav and Mungantiwar on the dais, the BJP corporators started shouting vociferously “Modi, Modi..”. Irked by the BJP corporators’ “Modi, Modi...” sloganeering, the Sena corporators retaliated shouting ‘Chor Hai, Chor Hai’.
The BJP’s “Modi, Modi” slogans and Sena’s instant “Chor hai, Chor hai” slogans nearly marred the function, at which Mungantiwar handed over a compensation cheque for Rs 647.34 crore to the Sena-ruled BMC in lieu of the Octroi scrapped after the introduction of GST in Maharashtra on July 1. The slogan shouting by the BJP and Sena corporators continued for quite some. It was only after an embarrassed Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar intervened to the corporators of the both the parties that the ruckus ended.
The first tranche of the compensation given by the Maharashtra Government to the BMC is in line with its latest legislation — the Maharashtra Goods and Service (compensation to local bodies) Act, 2017. On its part, the State Government has assured a compensation amounting to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore a year to the BMC, following the abolition of Octroi.
Many of the BJP corporators hit back at their counterparts from the Sena, by staging a walkout from the function when Uddhav began to speak at the function.
What made matters worse between the saffron alliance partners was one unsavoury incident in which BJP’s Makrand Narvekar was beaten up by the Sena’s women corporators at the BMC lobby, minutes before the function started.
Senior Sena corporator Kishori Pednekar said that the women corporators roughed up Narvekar, in reaction to the objectionable words used by him against late Sena chief Bal Thackeray. “When we began raised slogans eulogising late Balasaheb, Narvekar and a few other BJP members started saying “Chor Hai, Chor Hai”, we gave a befitting reply to Narvekar, What Narvekar did was obnoxious. We are not scared of this kind of people. We merely reacted to his insulting words against late Balasaheb”.
However, Narvekar denied that he had spoken against late Thackeray as was being made out by the Sena’s women corporators. “The incident took place much before the start of the function. The incident clearly shows that the Sena is not interested in the welfare or development of Mumbaikars. The incident only confirmed that the Sena corporators believed in goodagiri. The CCTV footage will clearly establish as to what happened”.
On his part, Uddhav sought to underplay the incident involving the assault on Narvekar by Sena corporators. “I have not heard anything about it ( the incident) so far. I will react to it when I learn about it,” the Sena president said, when his attention was drawn to the incident at a news conference held later in the evening.