Opposition leaders from Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Thursday described the BMC demolishing an alleged illegal construction in the sea near Mahim Dargah a “scripted show to give credit to (MNS chief) Raj Thackeray”. Speaking to mediapersons, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said, "The construction was not new and even before Raj Thackeray, the issue had been raised by MLAs from other parties as well as MLAs and councilors of his own party. (The structure) has been under construction for a long time. He (Raj Thackeray) just read out the script as it came to him. No action was taken for so long but action was taken immediately after he wrote a letter (raised the issue).” “There are so many issues in the state. He (Raj Thackeray) should be told about it, then he will write letters (raise issues) and action will be taken,” he added. NCP's Jitendra Awhad said the structure was old and preparation was already on to demolish it. The demolition was done on Thursday to give credit to Raj Thackeray, he claimed. "I have a letter in my hand. This letter is from the district collector. In this, the date of when to take police protection (to demolish the structure) is written as March 23. Someone had instructed Raj Thackeray to speak about it specifically, following which the structure will be demolished the next day. This way he will get the credit. The papers in my possession prove this, this was a scripted show,” he said. Shiv Sena Minister Deepak Kesarkar, however, said structure was demolished under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. Speaking to the media, he said, "We respect all religions. We have taken this action under the CRZ Act. It prohibits any construction in the sea. The area will be cleaned by removing all stones and soil."
