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BJP takes another shot at Shiv Sena

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Bombay unit has fired a fresh salvo against its alliance partner in the state, the Shiv Sena.

BJP's Bombay president Kirit Somaiyya recently blamed the Shiv Sena for keeping it in the dark over the fate and implementation of the Shiv Shahi Punarvasan Prakalp -- an ambitious project envisaging free housing for four million slum-dwellers in Bombay.

Earlier, at the BJP conclave in Karnala, the party leadership had categorically decided to take the Shiv Sena head-on on matters relating to public welfare.

The leadership had also decided to pressurise the Maharashtra government to take immediate decisions over certain contentious issues which it had highlighted during its stint in the opposition.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which falls under the jurisdiction of the state government, recently decided to rescind the permission allowing slum-dwellers to add one more story, up to a height of 14 feet, once the housing project is implemented. What annoyed the BJP is that the same demand was rejected by the alliance government 18 months ago.

Besides this, the BJP will also take an aggressive stand on the problems of farmers in rural Maharashtra.

As Chief Minister Manohar Joshi is delaying decisions on these, the BJP, it is learnt, will take the issues up during the co-ordinating committee meeting.

Compiled from the Marathi media by Prasanna D Zore

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