This is an archive article published on August 1, 2021
Eye on civic polls, ruling BJP, Oppn NCP up the ante in Pimpri-Chinchwad
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has launched “Mission 100 +”, opposition Nationalist Congress Party leaders said the party was determined to make a comeback in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
According to police sources, sensitive booths have been identified in 16 boroughs of Kolkata municipality area. (File)
With barely a few months to go before the civic elections for Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation in February 2022, political parties are going all out to ensure their victory. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched “Mission 100 +”, opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders said the party was determined to make a comeback to power in Pimpri-Chinchwad and was hoping to “import” 25 corporators from the BJP into its fold. Parth Pawar, son of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, would be playing a key role in the upcoming civic polls, the leaders added.
In 2017 elections, the BJP had ousted the NCP from power, winning a record 77 wards. The NCP secured only 36 wards. This was the first time in over four-decade-old history of PCMC that BJP had captured power in PCMC, which was initially helmed by the Congress. Later on, the NCP and Congress ruled the civic body in turns even as the BJP and the Shiv Sena struggled to even reach the double-digit mark since 1986.
“We have already launched our Mission-100 + in Pimpri-Chinchwad. As of now, we have 77 corporators in House 128. Five independents are also with us,” said BJP district general secretary Raju Durge.
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Durge said as part of the election preparations, the party has appointed over 1,300 booth leaders in all three assembly segments of Bhosari, Chinchwad and Pimpri. “Every booth has 500-700 voters. These booth leaders have to remain in constant touch with the voters in their respective areas. Each booth leader will have 10 workers under him,” he said.
Durge said party MLAs like Mahesh Landge, who represents Bhosari assembly constituency, and Laxman Jagtap, who represents Chinchwad assembly constituency, will be assigned the task of encouraging and motivating the booth workers. “They have collectively been allocated around 10 prabhag (divisions),” he said.
Top BJP leaders like Chandrakant Patil and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would also be playing active role in these elections to ensure the party continues holding the reins of the civic body.
“Both Patil and Fadnavis will be going around the industrial city, meeting party leaders, workers and booth leaders. This time, they would be actively involved and would infuse new energy and enthusiasm among the cadres,” said Durge.
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Landge, who is also the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit city chief, said, “We are confident of coming back to power with a thumping majority. We will win more seats than we did the last time. Our mission is to have more than 100 corporators. Our confidence is based on the kind of development the party has ensured in the city.”
Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP chief Sanjog Waghere, though said, it would be the NCP, and not the BJP, which will return to power in 2022. “BJP is now talking of Mission-100 +. We have already done that long back and have been preparing the ground for returning to power as BJP has failed to live up to the expectations of the people,” he said.
Waghere said as many as 25 BJP corporators are slated to join the NCP before the civic elections. “These are our own people who had left the party during the last elections. They now want to return to their original party,” he said.
To this, Langde said, “Let them say whatever they want. BJP is united, strong and will again capture PCMC. We have no doubt about it.”
Meanwhile, Waghere said Parth Pawar was actively involved in NCP’s plans and strategies in Pimpri-Chinchwad. “He has been taking keen interest in the party’s growth and its initiatives for the people. His role will be crucial during the elections. He has been taking feedback from us every day,” Waghere said.
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Parth Pawar had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Maval constituency; Pimpri-Chinchwad is a part of the seat. He had, however, lost to Shrirang Barne of the Shiv Sena. Since then, Parth has often been seen in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Recently he met Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil and urged him to take up the development works suggested by NCP corporators on priority. His meeting came in the backdrop of complaints by NCP corporators that development in their areas was being ignored by PCMC.
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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