NCP ignores Mumbai city issues in ‘Halla Bol’ rally

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) overlooked Mumbai based issues during Halla Bol rally in Mumbai. Party chief Sharad Pawar stressed on issues related to ashramshalas, health of backward class students and public distribution system (PDS) instead of Mumbai based infrastructure issues. At the same time, Praful Patel, senior party leader claimed NCP was the party which pushed Navi Mumbai International Airport and Metro rail project.

After Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra region, NCP held Halla Bol morcha in Mumbai on Wednesday as the budget session is going on. Addressing the rally, Pawar told party workers about how students belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) can afford books, school uniform, two times meal and breakfast at two times in just Rs 900 as scholarship from state?

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Patel, former union minister said, it was he who pushed the Navi Mumbai International Airport project at the Centre when he was minister. Sunil Tatkare, state president of NCP said, the Mumbai Urban Transport Project was cleared during his tenure. “Being Urban development minister, I had cleared the file of MUTP in the state. However, then opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted me and said it was daylight dream and will not happen,” Tatkare recalled.

Apart from Tatkare and Patel, nobody speak over Mumbai based issued despite the morcha was held in Mumbai at Azad Maidan. Commenting upon the morcha, senior Congress leader who do not want to name said, NCP do not have base in Mumbai and in urban areas except in Western Maharashtra belt.

“The NCP do not have strong leadership in Mumbai and Thane belt who can understand civic issues,” said the leader. He added, though Sachin Ahir, Mumbai unit president of NCP was minister of state for urban development, he failed to take on Shiv Sena and BJP over failure in civic issue.