NCP said it has requested the State Election Commission to declare Sindhudurg district as "sensitive".
In a veiled attack on Congress leader and Maharashtra Minister Narayan Rane, NCP today said it has requested the State Election Commission to declare Sindhudurg district as "sensitive" so that the Municipal Council polls there can be held in a free and fair manner.
Rane, a Shiv Sainik-turned-Congressman, has a strong political base in the state's coastal Konkan region of which Sindhudurg is a part.
Addressing a press conference here, NCP spokesperson Prakash Binsale said campaigning for the December 11 and 13 elections to 188 Municipal Councils in the state is going on peacefully except in Sindhudurg district.
Without naming Rane, Binsale said, "certain leaders were trying to create disturbances and provoke violence which will cast a shadow on the polls. District leaders and office-bearers of NCP had written a letter to the party's state unit chief Madhukar Pichad about the local situation."
"We have taken the letter seriously and wrote to the State Election Commission to declare the district as sensitive and deploy adequate police force to ensure that the polls are held in a free and fair manner."
To a question on Rane's allegation that NCP was inciting violence in the district, Binsale said violence was not in the character of his party, a key ally of Congress in Maharashtra as well as at the Centre.
"One should check the background of those making such allegations."
Tempers had been running high between Congress and NCP workers in the district in the last few days. Rane, during his campaign speeches, has targeted Home Minister and NCP leader RR Patil's style of functioning.
Binsale said NCP has requested the commission to hold counting of votes on December 14, instead of December 12, if in a particular district, elections are held in two phases so as to avoid any impact on voting pattern in the second round.
"At present, it has been decided that the counting of first phase will be taken up on December 12, while that of second phase will be done on December 14,"he said.
Asked about the controversy over the Peddar Road flyover, Binsale said Rural Development Minister Jayant Patil, who is also Guardian Minister of Mumbai City district, had been misquoted on the issue.
"Media interpreted his statement wrongly. He said the government has received an alternative proposal to the Peddar Road flyover. He never said the flyover project has been scrapped," Binsale maintained.
He said NCP was of the view that if the project is in Mumbai's interest, it should happen. "It was conceptualised ten years ago as it was the need of the hour. Over during the last decade, the Peddar Road stretch, which is the link between North and South Mumbai, has become congested."
"There are bottlenecks on the road because of the vehicles of the residents living in the area. If a flyover is constructed, the traffic movement will be smooth and the lower road will be exclusively for the local people," he said.
Binsale said only 16 flats on Peddar Road will be about 7 feet close to the pillars of the flyover and mentioned about sacrifices made by people for development. Farmers in Pune gave up their land for the Mumbai-Pune expressway," he recalled.
Binsale said there was no need for public hearing being conducted for the Peddar Road flyover project which is facing opposition from local residents, including celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale.
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