PM Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during a roadshow, for Lok Sabha polls, in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mumbai roadshow has sparked off a political issue in Maharashtra with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi lashing out at the BJP-led Maha Yuti for putting people of the financial capital into inconvenience and being insensitive in the wake of the Ghatkopar hoarding collapse tragedy.
The toll in the hoarding collapse has mounted to 16 with two more bodies being recovered from the debris.
NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut criticised the BJP for the PM's roadshow.
"It was not proper to have a roadshow in Mumbai", said Pawar.
"The roadshow shows how insensitive BJP is", said Raut, adding that the ruling Maha Yuti would fare badly in the elections.
"BJP rubbed salt on the wounds of the affected families. Also, the general public was inconvenienced", pointed out Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant.
"While the relatives of those who lost their lives in the tragic billboard collapse in Ghatkopar were mourning, they continued to hold the road show of their party leader Narendra Modi ji in the same vicinity. To add salt to the wounds of Mumbaikars, the BJP cancelled the metro rail, local trains and blocked roads in that area to give a smooth passage to the road show", NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said.
"Why were the Metro Rail and local trains stopped? This stoppage could have endangered the lives of commuters due to overcrowding as visible in the visuals available. An explanation as to why this was done should be immediately given by the incumbent Maharashtra government to Mumbaikars. In all probably it was smartly and tactfully done, to make people walk back home on the route of the 'road show', making it visually appear that there is a large crowd participating in the 'Modi road show’".
"This display of insensitivity by BJP of continuing with their road show despite the loss of 16 lives amid many injuries, and then causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters will prove to be a 'nemesis' for all the Lok Sabha candidates of the BJP and its allies in Mumbai", he said.