Congress president Rahul Gandhi will begin the party’s Lok Sabha election campaign in the State from MMRDA ground at Bandra-Kurla Complex on March 1.
The party claimed it was denied permission to hold the rally at Dadar’s Shivaji Park at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, a letter dated February 16 from the Urban Development Department (UDD), headed by the Chief Minister, to the Municipal Commissioner has surfaced. It seeks granting of permission to the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi to hold a rally at Shivaji Park.
City Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam said, “Why can’t Shivaji Park be given to us to hold the rally? Is it only for the Shiv Sena and the alliance of Prakash Ambedkar and Owaisi? I think, I need not say more on who is helping whom.”
As per a 2016 government resolution, Shivaji Park can be made available for programmes other than sports for 45 days in a year. Of these, 34 days include Republic Day, Children’s Day, Maharashtra Day, Independence Day, Ganesh Visarjan, Dussehra and Mahaparinirvan Diwas. The remaining 11 days are available to hold other events.
According to BMC sources, the Congress had written a letter to the civic body in October last year seeking permission to hold the rally and it was then asked to seek directions from the UDD.
This will be the first rally the Congress president will be addressing in the city after the rally held in Goregaon last year.