As political parties are busy in finalising its election manifesto and campaigning strategies,senior Sena leaders are actively considering the inclusion of Adarsh scam as a strong point in its campaign against Congress. After the advertising blitzkrieg of We did it themed on the various achievements of the Sena-BJP led BMC,the Sena will now use the Adarsh scam as its defence against the Congress who are expected to raise the issue of corruption within the BMC. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray,at a rally for local party leaders in Goregoan last week had taken a dig at the Congress-led state government and administration by questioning what Maharashtra government had done for Mumbai except setting Adarsh standards in administration. This had set the tone for campaigning for the Sena and many within the party feel that the Adarsh scam will be the partys best defence. Shiv Sena secretary Anil Desai said the partys primary campaigning strategy has been the Karun Daakhavla series. Our focus is and will always be on the work that Shiv Sena has done in the past five years. But the moment Congress points fingers at us for corruption in the BMC we will remind them about the scam and how it represented corruption in its worst possible form, said Desai. Huge cost escalations in various BMC projects is going to be another target point for opposition parties in addition to poor roads,drainage and inadequate water supply. Shiv Sena MLA from Jogeshwari Ravindra Waikar said they are also drawing up a list of state government projects that have seen longer delays and bigger costs escalations. What about the cost escalations in the Bandra-Worli Sea Link,Santacruz-Chembur Link road Metro and Monorail? We will not let people forget the Adarsh scam,where defence land was misused, said Waikar. Thackeray in his Goregaon rally had attacked the government over letting the Adarsh society come up. They let Adarsh be built,changed reservations of plots to benefit IAS officials and leaders. I can assure you that BMC has not changed the reservations of any plot meant for public use in last five years. That is our achievement, said Thackeray.
