This story is from December 10, 2014

MNS, Shiv Sena suspicious of prime minister panel for Mumbai

Close on the heels of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna voicing reservations over chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s suggestion to constitute a high-powered panel for Mumbai under the chairmanship of PM Narendra Modi, MNS chief Raj Thackeray too has pooh-poohed the idea
MNS, Shiv Sena suspicious of prime minister panel for Mumbai
MUMBAI: Close on the heels of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna voicing reservations over chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s suggestion to constitute a high-powered panel for Mumbai under the chairmanship of PM Narendra Modi, MNS chief Raj Thackeray too has pooh-poohed the idea.
Both Sena and MNS are alarmed by the Fadnavis regime’s animated interest in Mumbai. Their suspicion is not entirely unfounded given BJP’s excellent ties with the mercantile community and the community’s deep interest in keeping Mumbai under its thumb, said political analysts.
“The Gujarati-Marwari business lobby wants unbridled control over Mumbai. They want to banish Marathis from the city...to Badlapur and Virar. We will have to keep close tabs on every decision of the government in this connection,” said a MNS functionary on Wednesday. “The Gujarati business class has been coveting Mumbai since the Samyukta Maharashtra agitation.”
The MNS may soon begin to flex muscles against the state government on the issue of Mumbai, he pointed out.
On Tuesday, Raj had said that similar committees should be set up for Indore, Bangalore, New Delhi, Nagpur and Pune too. “The PM should take a macro view of all major cities and draw up plans for their overall development,” he had told mediapersons in Dombivli, where he has been camping for three days as part of his campaign to revamp the party.
Fadnavis’s detractors may accuse him of planning to hand over Mumbai’s reins to Delhi, Saamna had opined. The saffron daily’s leader comment assumes significance as the Sena is a partner in the BJP government, both in the state and at the Centre.

Fadnavis was quick to allay all fears. There is no move to appoint a CEO for Mumbai or to curtail the BMC’s powers, he had said in Nagpur on Tuesday. There are nearly 16 government agencies that monitor a slew of projects for Mumbai; a high-powered panel is meant to bring about coordination between these agencies, he had said. Pointing out that many infrastructure projects were being delayed in the corridors of administration in Delhi because of environment and coastal reservation zone regulations, Fadnavis had said that a panel headed by the PM may be of immense help to cut red tape and expedite work.
Meanwhile, the MNS president on Wednesday exhorted his party activists to shed their post-poll inertia and get back to organizational work in view of the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation polls in October 2015.
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