Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took a jibe at the Congress and NCP over the Adarsh scam during their rule in Maharashtra, saying his government was creating an ideal society through its public housing schemes.
Modi, who was speaking at an event to lay the foundation stone for the Maharashtra government’s Rs 18,000 crore mass housing scheme, said the NDA government was working towards creating a broader, "adarsh" (ideal) society. "...this is not the Adarsh society which was the topic of discussion under the old government. We are creating the real adarsh society where a simple family's aspirations are getting realised," he said, in the speech that comes months ahead of the general elections. The erstwhile Congress-NCP government was rocked by the Adarsh housing society scam which related to alleged irregularities in construction of a high-rise in south Mumbai.
Modi lay the foundation stone for three Metro corridors — two in Kalyan and one in Pune. “In the coming decade, 10 of the world’s fastest growing cities will be India. Mumbai is the epicentre of the country’s financial growth. We have focused on developing Mumbai’s transport network. The idea is that an integrated transport system should help people reach one part of the city from another within an hour,” he said in Kalyan. Modi also launched 90,000 units under the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) and LIG (Low Income Group) housing scheme.
Beginning his speech in Marathi, the PM said, “I bow to Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Dr Ambedkar, Shahu Maharaj, Tanaji Malusare, Lokmanya Tilak, Saint Dnyaneshwar, saint Tukaram, Ahilyabai Holkar.” He said the culture of Mumbai-Thane is to assimilate people. “Mumbai-Thane are the cities that fulfil dreams. Those who come here become one with these cities. But there is lot of strain on the basic infrastructure of these places,” he added.
Modi said the government intended to build 35 kilometres of Metro in three years. Slamming the previous Congress government for its shoddy pace of work, he claimed that his government has moved much faster on building infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s programme in Maharashtra was overshadowed by the fact that BJP ally Shiv Sena decided to boycott the event after the saffron party did not invite Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. “Both Eknath Shinde and Vijay Shivtare were invited. But they did not attend the program. This is because the BJP leaders did not attend Uddhavji’s Coastal Road foundation stone laying programme,” a top Sena leader told CNN News18 on Tuesday.
The Sena’s snub to the Prime Minister is being looked at as a clash of egos and battle for credit in state politics. On Sunday, Thackeray laid the foundation stone of Mumbai’s Coastal Road, a big-ticket infrastructure project that will connect Kandivali to South Mumbai through a 29.2km coastal road. The programme was organised by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and none of the BJP leaders were invited for it.
The saffron party immediately hit back by putting up hoardings of the coastal road project, thanking Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Modi for swiftly granting permissions for the project. None of the Shiv Sena leaders were mentioned in these hoardings. The banners were put up at all prominent places, including opposite Shiv Sena Bhavan — the Sena’s headquarter in central Mumbai’s Dadar area.
In the end, the BJP tried to bring a close to the war by saying it wasn’t BJP’s culture to seek credit. “What is important is that the Coastal Road will bring relief to Mumbaikars,” Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP president, told reporters. But a stung Sena was in no mood to let it go and hit back by issuing a diktat to its leaders to boycott PM’s event.
Comments
0 comment