On May 26 when the Narendra Modi government completed two years in office the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna published a photograph showing a tiger killing a lion in a forest of South Africa on its front page with a caption, 'wagh ekala raja' (Tiger is the only King). The selection of the photograph was an answer to a BJP minister for housing Prakash Mehta's barb that lion (Make in India logo identified with BJP) will be seen on the streets of Mumbai as the tiger (Shiv Sena's symbol) is rapidly becoming extinct.
Mehta's remark was not spontaneous. With a specific goal to embarrass its ruling partner the BJP leaders are on a mission to end Shiv Sena's 20 year rule in Asia's richest Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which annual budget of Rs 33,000 crore is more than that of eight states in the country. As the BJP's grass root organisation in Mumbai is not as strong as Shiv Sena the former has adopted a strategy to defame the latter as a corrupt one without taking its name. A series of scams taken place in a span of one year has added ammunition to the BJP's armour.
The BJP strategist believe that they could win at least 110 seats in the 227 member BMC house in the February 2017 election if they could manage to tarnish Shiv Sena's image. At present, the BJP has only 33 councilors whereas the Shiv Sena is the single largest party with 82 members followed by Congress (62) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (28). The BJP has taken an aggressive stand over several civic issues after a success in the October 2014 Assembly election boosted its confidence. In an unusual success, it won 15 out of 36 assembly seats in the city, one more than Shiv Sena.
A power in BMC will make BJP an inclusive party in the maximum city which has voted in favour of son-of-the-soil theory in last several elections. Losing BMC will put a question mark on Shiv Sena's relevance in the city. Former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of Congress predicts that Shiv Sena will pull out from the governments at the Centre as well as in the state if it loses the BMC election to the BJP.
Common Shiv Sena workers feel that BJP is dragging the party behind it. "We won 63 seats in the Vidhan Sabha although there was a strong wave in favour of Narendra Modi. Now, we have better chances as the wave is diminishing," says a Shiv Sena worker.
The party leadership, however, has decided to keep patience. "(Shiv Sena chief) Uddhav ji (Thackeray) is competent to take a call on each issue related with the party. We will wait and watch," says Shiv Sena spokesperson Arvind Sawant, a Lok Sabha member from Mumbai South, on Chavan's prediction.
State BJP president Raosaheb Danve is more diplomatic on the issue of Shiv Sena's probable exit from the government. "Both the parties have right to expand their base. I can tell you that the next mayor of Mumbai will be of the BJP. No one will pull out of the government," he says.
: The scam came into light after the city was flooded in the monsoon on June 18 and 19 last year. It became clear that the contractors - Raju Bijlani, Arvind Jain, Krishna Purohit, Pukhraj Jain and Dinesh Shah - had allegedly cheated the civic body for Rs 12.58 crore. They had submitted forged documents claiming payment of Rs 36.63 crore against the work. The BMC had cleared Rs 12.58 crore out of that. The BMC also suspended 14 officials for their alleged involved in this scam. The role of another 80 officials is under scanner.
: Ashish Shelar had calculated the scam at Rs 100 crore. He claimed that he had demanded a probe into it.
Shiv Sena stand: MP from Mumbai South Central Rahul Shewale too claimed that he had demanded an investigation into the scam. He criticised Shelar for "exaggerated" claims on the amount involved in the scam.
: Kirit Somaiya conducted raids on the BMC's water filling points in first week of April and found that the private water tankers were illegally getting water from those points leading to a daily loss of 50 lakh litre drinking water. Somaiya alleged that the tankers by water from BMC at one paisa per litre and sell it to hotels and restaurants at Re 1 per litre as there was 15 percent water cut in the city. He presented figures saying 48,180 tankers supplied water in the city of which 9,181 were of BMC and the rest 38,999 were private.
: Somaiya called it a scam of Rs 500 crore. He alleged that the tanker mafia are linked to the Shiv Sena.
: Shiv Sena leader Yashodhar Phanse rubbished the allegation. He said the civic body has taken strict measures to curb water theft.
: The wrong doings at the BMC run dumping ground at Deonar came into light after the biggest garbage spot caught fire in February and March choking the eastern suburbs. At least two people died because of difficulties in breathing and hundreds of residents complained of uneasiness. The reason behind the fire and the people who caused it is still unknown. The BMC has announced that it will not stop dumping garbage at Deonar though its capacity to hold more garbage is over.
: Shelar alleged that there was a scam in garbage collection. He pointed that while around 7,000 metric tonnes of garbage is generated daily in Mumbai the BMC paid contractors for around 10,000 metric tonnes.
: Shewale pointed that it was the state government's responsibility to maintain law and order and raised questions why the security arrangements were inadequate at the dumping ground.
BJP's strategy to link Shiv Sena with the scams in the BMC is clearly visible. It has cornered the Shiv Sena over four "scams" in last one year without directly taking the party's name. Interestingly, these scams have been unearthed only after BJP smelled a rat. Shiv Sena finds itself in an awkward situation where it cannot disown a responsibility of the wrongdoings going on in the civic body. The latest in the list of its worries is a report released on April 25 by the municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta which nails one of the biggest scams in the BMC in last couple of years. The report elaborates on how the substandard work in road repairing has caused an unestimated loss of around Rs 3,000 crore to the civic body's exchequer. The BMC suspended two engineers Ashok Pawar and Uday Murdudkar for their alleged failure in supervising the road works. It also booked six contractors RPS Infraprojects, KR Construction, Jay Kumar, Relcon Infraprojects, RK Madhani and Mahavir Infrastructure for alleged cheating and malpractices.
Interestingly, Mehta initiated the inquiry into works of 34 roads in October 2015 acting upon a complaint by BJP MP from Mumbai North Central Poonam Mahajan. In a letter dated June 1, 2015 she had complained about inferior quality of a road between Vidya Vihar railway station to Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road. The outcome of the inquiry damaged the Shiv Sena further as it stands accused of having a tacit understanding with road contractors.
Mahajan denies that her complaint was aimed at targeting Shiv Sena. "As a Mumbaikar," she says, "I too have suffered for years because of broken roads caused by rampant corruption. It is an issue I feel personally ashamed off. Mumbai is financial and entertainment capital but importantly it a city whose spirit is an inspiration to the world and it should not suffer from issues like this."
Mayor Snehal Ambekar of Shiv Sena claims credit for unearthing the "scam" in the road works. "I was the first who had written to the municipal commissioner demanding an inquiry into the road works," she says dismissing the allegation that her party provides patronage to the contractors.
Record shows that Ambekar had written the letter almost a week after Mahajan had filed her complaint. In second phase, the BMC administration has started conducting quality check of another 174 roads. Its result is expected to bring more embarrassment for Shiv Sena.
Another BJP MP from Mumbai North East Kirit Somaiya pinched Shiv Sena by leveling an unveiled attack on the Thackerays. He alleged that "a saheb (leader) from Bandra, his brother-in-law and personal assistant are responsible for scams in the BMC". It was an indirect reference to Thackeray, who lives in the western suburb of Bandra, his brother-in-law Shrirang Patankar, who is quite influential in the BMC functioning and his assistant Milind Narvekar, who allegedly takes calls on behalf of his master.
In a smart move, the BJP leaders have so far refrained themselves from taking names of any Shiv Sena leader. However, their strategists are leaving no stone unturned in indicating that Shiv Sena is protecting the culprits. "It was Aditya (Thackeray's son) who had personally inspected road repairing works. In coming days, we will demand an explanation from the Shiv Sena on why he is silent on the issue," a BJP leader says.
Explaining the BJP's strategy the leader says the party has prepared a list of 10 issues where there is a potential of unearthing a scam. "Only four are out by now. We will definitely do a Ravan dahan (burning of the devil) with all these 10 issues on Dussehra," he says indicating that the party will corner Shiv Sena on these issues by the end of October.
Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar is confident that his party can win the voters' hearts before the civic polls by raising voice on the civic issues. "I have been vocal on the issues of desilting, water scam and the fire at the Deonar dumping ground. I will not let the contractors cheat the people and enjoy their perks," he says.
Shiv Sena's leader of House in BMC Trushna Vishwasrao rubbishes the allegations. "Whether it is desilting scam or the issue of water mafia Shiv Sena played a role of whistle blower. As far as Uddhavji's visit for inspecting the cleanliness of drains is concerned we will let you know if he is going for the visit," she says.
The battle for supremacy is likely to intensify after the monsoon when the people of Mumbai will once again judge the BMC's performance in handling the sewage lines and water logging in low lying areas.
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