Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday, in a bid to corner his former boss Uddhav Thackeray and the faction led by him, announced that the Anti Corruption Bureau will conduct an inquiry into the delimitation of BMC wards carried out earlier.
In his reply to demand by several MLAs including a legislator from his camp Sada Sarvankar, Shinde said that ACB will probe the manner in which the exercise of change in ward structure was completed. This is a major blow to Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray as the Shinde camp during the debate without naming them had targeted them ahead of the upcoming BMC elections.
In his reply to a debate on the bill proposing a reduction in the BMC wards to 227 from 236, Shinde said that the guilty will not be shielded but clarified that the action will not be taken out of revenge. ‘’The new ward structure done (during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government) was wrong. It will be appropriate to increase the number of wards after the completion of the 2021 census,’’ he added. The CM informed that 892 complaints were filed against the revision in the BMC ward structure.
Sarvankar alleged that there were irregularities in the delimitation of BMC wards and demanded an ACB probe. He gave an example from his Dadar assembly seat saying that some wards were transferred in the Worli assembly segment which is represented by Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray. Besides, Samajwadi Party legislator Rais Sheikh, BJP MLA Amit Satam and Congress had also objected to the delimitation exercise.
Shinde said,’’ Every 10 years the census is carried out and the revision in the number of wards take place accordingly. There is an anomaly that the six wards were increased for 20 percent population and nine wards for 3.8 percent population.’’ He also denied the charge made by Thackeray faction legislator Aaditya Thackeray that why the government was showing haste when the Supreme Court has ordered a status quo. Shinde however, clarified that the apex court has not stayed the ordinance issued by the state government proposing reduction in BMC wards to 227 from 236. ‘’The allegation is being made on the basis of wrong information,’’ he said and taunted Aaditya that the confusion arose because the lawyers did not provide proper information. ‘’We will not take any decision against the law,’’ he added.
Opposition reminded Shinde as the urban development minister in the MVA government he had moved the bill proposing the increase in BMC wards to 236 from 227. Opposition asked Shinde what has now changed to bring the new bill. ‘’Though I am the urban development minister, critical decisions are made as a collective responsibility. So what is wrong has to be corrected. Some of the opposition also have grievances but they cannot speak,’’ he said and assured that he will not do any illegal work.
Referring to the clutch of petitions filed by Thackeray faction in the apex court with an argument that the government was formed in violation of Constitutional provisions, Shinde Said, ‘’Every morning at 9.30am, applications were made to the Supreme Court. But numbers matter in democracy. We are working according to the rule of majority. This country has democracy, laws, and rules. We have not gone against them. We have a strong majority and it is growing, so why should we be afraid? The Supreme Court, High Court take decisions only according to the provisions of the Constitution. We did not act outside the constitution and this is causing problems for everyone.’’
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