Vadodara mayor’s office vandalised: AAP protests arrest of 24 party workers

On Tuesday, AAP leader Manoj Sarothiya arrived in Vadodara and attacked the BJP-ruled VMC for “failing to provide amenities” to citizens.

Sorathiya said that instead of providing answers to the questions, the mayor has been “enraged enough” to initiate police action against AAP workers for “raising questions”. Sorathiya said, “In the last 30 years of BJP’s rule in the city, Vadodara has witnessed floods every year… The AAP workers spilled some black ink and broke a name plate, which enraged the Mayor so much that a police complaint was lodged…  I want to tell the Mayor, every year, Vadodara residents lose crores of rupees during floods and also lose lives. Why was no FIR registered at that time?”

Sorathiya added, “The condition of the roads in Vadodara is terrible. The office bearers of Vadodara have indulged in blatant corruption and led the city to this point. In the recent months, a project of Rs 1200 crore was announced for the Vishwamitri project, out of which, Rs 50 crore has been paid by the VMC and a same amount by the Irrigation Department for the flood mitigation work… AAP leaders are not scared of (the BJP’s) lathis or the jails… If they cannot answer people’s questions, they should resign from the post.”

The Navapura police station, which had arrested 24 AAP workers, including 18 women late on Monday night for rioting, vandalism and damaging government property. conducted a panchnama of the spot outside the Mayor’s cabin. Police officers recorded statements of the civic body’s security personnel during the panchnama. Police Inspector MS Ansari said, “The 24 persons were arrested and granted bail at the police station as per the provision of law.”

Cong holds pothole tour

Meanwhile, the Vadodara unit of Congress on Tuesday, also held a “pothole tour” of the Mayor’s ward to “showcase” the pits and potholes as well as the garbage heaps strewn on the roads.

Vadodara City Congress President Rutvij Joshi said, “The Vadodara city Congress has initiated a campaign ‘Khadodara darshan’, to showcase the apathy of the civic body and the condition of the roads and sanitation in the city during the monsoon”.

“We started with Ward 4, which is the Mayor’s Ward… In several places, entire stretch of roads have been dug up by the civic body on the pretext of pre-monsoon work but they have not been filled up and levelled, making it dangerous as there have been multiple instances of people being injured. In one of the cases, an auto driver was killed due to a pothole in another part of the city,” Joshi added.

Mayor Pinky Soni remained unavailable for her remarks over the issue.