Maharashtra Deputy Head Minister Ajit Pawar stated on Monday that the Pune Police and the municipal authorities were free to take action in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad before his birthday against “unauthorised” hoardings.
Several “birthday greetings” were held in Pune and Chinchwad, while Mr Pawar and opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis, who were sharing birthdays on 22 July, wished their supporters not, despite the two leaders’ demand that they do.
“Did Iask Party workers or anyone else make these hosting arrangements? I’m a person who keeps the rules always.
If the hops are illegal, then officials of the Municipal Pimpri Chinchwad which is ruled by BJP should immediately take action,” says Mr. Pawar. He is also the Secretary of State for District of Pune.
The hoardings refer to Mr. Fadnavis as “the architect of new Pune.” BJP supporters and party workers have put them up while Mr. Pawar’s followers have supported the panels calling him a “administrator par excellence.”
All of the major parties in the state prepared for this ferocious fight, especially in the crucial Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in February, next year, with the civic polls scheduled.
The contest has already been heated by repeated statements by Nana Patole, Chief of the Maharashtra Congress, to the effect that his party would be alone in the state government despite being allies with Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party.
Recently the Sena parliamentarian, Sanjay Raut, too, said the PCMC mayoral office would receive 50 seats in the forthcoming election, which is considered the bastion of Mr. Pawar’s.
In reaction to these statements, Mr Pawar stated: “The leaders of all sides – the Sena, the BJP or the Congress – will use all gimmicks in their bag to galvanise their party workers for a few months left to the public elections.
Every senior manager makes such a declaration to delight his employees. What a leader tells his party workers from the podium of his party is their right.”
