She is suspected to have taken an overdose of sleeping pills or injected herself on Friday night, the official said based on preliminary information
Even as Maharashtra BJP claimed on Saturday that 100 of its candidates — which include a relative of the chief minister and wife of a cabinet minister — have been elected unopposed in the ongoing local self government body polls, the opposition has alleged that the saffron party has relied heavily on money and muscle power to prove its worth. Taking a jibe at BJP, the Opposition said the party was implementing a “Family Welfare Scheme” in local self government body polls
“BJP has started with a century. In the local self government body polls, BJP has made its victory start with a century. BJP’s three candidates have been elected as presidents unopposed and 100 candidates have been elected unopposed,” said BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhaye.
Among those elected include Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ maternal brother Alhad Kaloti and Sadhana Mahajan, wife of Cabinet Minister Girish Mahajan. While Kaloti has been elected as councillor from Chikhaldara Municipal Council, Sadhana has been elected president of Jamner Municipal Council. Even Marketing Minister Jaykumar Rawal’s mother has been elected unopposed as president of the Dondaicha-Varwade Municipal Council in Dhule district.
Reacting to the BJP’s claim of unopposed victories, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said, “All this has become possible through pressure tactics employed by the BJP. The Mahayuti has misused government machinery to ensure the victories of its candidates.”
Stating that close relatives of BJP ministers and leaders have been elected unopposed to municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats, Wadettiwar said,
“It is a murder of democracy. Misusing power and using pressure tactics on opposition candidates, several BJP candidates have managed to win unopposed while forcing opposition candidates to withdraw from the race,” he said.
Underlining that intimidation has become a tool to ensure victories, Wadettiwar said, “Because of the chief minister, BJP office-bearers have become emboldened to do what they want.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve said power has gone to BJP’s head. “It is misusing the government machinery to ensure unopposed victories of its candidates. BJP spokesperson has claimed that 100 of its candidates have been elected unopposed and three as presidents. This is not a victory but arrogance of BJP leaders. How come all the relatives of BJP leaders are getting elected unopposed? Why can’t an ordinary party worker get elected as council president or becomes a councilor?” he asked.
Taunting BJP that it was implementing a “Family Welfare Scheme”, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar said, “Though unopposed election is a good sign, how come only BJP candidates are getting elected unopposed? BJP has been raking up the issue of dynastic rule but in the local self government body polls, it is implementing Family Welfare Yojana. It is showing how it is a ‘party with a difference’.”
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Rohit Pawar alleged that BJP has used every trick in the bag to force opposition candidate out of the fray and ensure unopposed election of its candidates. “The local self government bodies are seen as those who can take the common man onboard in the decision-making process. It is about ensuring decentralisation of power. Unopposed victories of relatives, ministers and leaders are being ensured… Elections should be free, fair and transparent… but there is no sign of such things,” he said.
Responding to the opposition’s allegation, BJP leader and Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “I want to thank the people of Maharashtra… In assembly election, BJP scored more than three votes. And now, BJP has secured more than 100 unopposed elections. When the final results are out, Mahayuti will get 51 per cent votes and a two-third majority in all local self government bodies. When Congress loses, it raises the bogey of oppression and Congress wins, then it claim victory. People of Maharashtra have faith in the ability of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ensure development and therefore they have voted for Mahayuti.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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