BJP 'requests' Sena to not shield water, tanker mafias

BJP city unit president Ashish Shelar made a public request to Shiv Sena on Saturday, urging them not to "shield the water and tanker mafias at a time when the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is inquiring the two FIRs lodged against tanker mafia Santosh Pawar".

Addressing the media, Shelar said it was BJP MP Poonam Mahajan who first brought to the fore the corruption in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) road construction projects. He added that besides him, it was BJP group leader Manoj Kotak who raised the issue of corruption in construction of roads.

He further pointed out that this was just a request from BJP to its alliance partner Sena against shielding the water mafias. Shelar informed that BJP was making this public request since Santosh Pawar was the brother-in-law of corporator Sarita Sharad Pawar.

Shelar said while the state was facing an acute water shortage, the tanker lobby was selling BMC water to people. Meanwhile, BJP group leader Manoj Kotak has already demanded action against Pawar under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).