To save temple wall, Sindhis may dump BJP for Cong

Keen to protect the temple wall, the trust filed an RTI application and found that Shelar had raised the issue and sought the demolition of the wall. The trust has around 4,000 registered members and claims influence on about 19,000 voters . “Shelar’s complaint stated that the temple wall should be brought down in spite of the society next to the temple stating that they had no objection. The boundary of the temple has trees which would also make it difficult to demolish the wall,” said Rajesh Gurshiani, a temple trust member.

According to Gurshiani, the BMC had stated earlier that they would not demolish the wall or area of religious places as it may hurt religious sentiments. However, following pressure created by Shelar, the BMC sent notices to demolish the wall.

A trust member, who did not wish to be named, said they had no choice but to approach local MLA Baba Siddique, who helped them for correspondence with the BMC over this and also approached BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte. The trust also carried a signature campaign and held a morcha to the BMC office. Despite repeated attempts, Shelar was not available for comments.

megha.sood@expressindia.com