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Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had strictly followed all Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) rules while purchasing land in south Mumbai for the state party office, adding that “people who have a habit of grabbing land should not ask us questions”.
He was responding to criticism from Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, who had questioned the manner and pace of the land transaction and alleged that laid down rules were circumvented. Fadnavis was speaking at a function after Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the Maharashtra BJP office.
CM Fadnavis said that he was fully aware that the opposition would raise objections. He said, “I knew that when we take land for the office, there will be some dishonest people sitting there, who are ready to ask questions every day. That’s why I had said from day one that we do not want government land. While purchasing it, we will follow all the rules of the Municipal Corporation because all the land here is lease land. We have to take permission and we have to pay money.”
He said, “I clearly told the party officials that everything should be done as per the rules. We do not want exemptions, we do not want shortcuts. If any common man or even a builder buys a plot, the Bharatiya Janata Party will do the same. We have taken all the permissions, completed all the procedures and this land has been bought by the Bharatiya Janata Party by spending its own money.”
He said everyone wants the state BJP unit to have a proper office in Mumbai. “For this we were looking for land. We were trying to get cheap private land instead of government land. Manoj Kotak (former party MP) got this land in South Mumbai. There were many problems in it and we solved them one by one. Gradually, we acquired this land. Some people have now raised questions on it. I want to tell them that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not live in a glass house. Don’t try to throw stones at us,” he warned.
Earlier, NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar had expressed strong objection to the land selected for the state headquarters of BJP. “The land of the BJP office, where ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ is being held in Mumbai today, is leased land. It is Schedule W land and the lease has not been renewed. Can Schedule W leased land be sold if lease renewal is pending? Will the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner clarify this?” he asked in a post on X.
He further said, “If preparations are being made to sell the Schedule W lease land, will tomorrow many important lands like Mahalaxmi Race Course also be put in the neck of private people? Just as all the media houses were called to suppress the Jain boarding case in Pune, it is understood that today a call has been made for this land in Mumbai also. Therefore, this matter is serious and the Commissioner should give an explanation. If the Commissioner does not clarify If so, we will meet them tomorrow and demand to see them.” file.”
Meanwhile, a Shiv Sena-UBT MP wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the land where the BJP office will come up. He claimed, “Marine Lines has not yet got its Marathi Bhasha Bhavan. Even after the foundation stone laying ceremony, the Marathi Bhasha Bhavan has not progressed and no one is paying attention. However, today the Union Home Minister is coming to Mumbai to perform the foundation stone laying ceremony of a five-star BJP office.”
He alleged, “The file to help farmers has not moved in Marathwada. Even after Diwali, farmers have not got relief. But the file of BJP’s five-star headquarters has moved at the speed of Rafale. The secret of this speed lies beneath the ground. Amit Shah is doing Bhoomi Pujan today – when he will use the spade, the truth will also come out.”
–IANS