BJP plans expressway pilgrimage8217;

PUNE, APRIL 7: Despite the fact that the completion of the Mumbai-Pune expressway is still some months away, it is already being used by ...

PUNE, APRIL 7: Despite the fact that the completion of the Mumbai-Pune expressway is still some months away, it is already being used by the State BJP as a launching pad for the bitter battle ahead when Maharashtra chooses a new Assembly.

Come May 1 and the BJP will be taking everyone on daily conducted tours of what it dubs as a one-of-a-kind expressway under construction. The 8220;Chalo Expressway8221; programme will be open to all, party critics and admirers.

The tour programme has been announced by adman-cum-BJP functionary Vinit Kuber who until recently was engaged in broadening the party base in the Congress stronghold of western Maharashtra.

Having organised a lecture on the lake tapping for the Koyna project 8212; it too is being projected by the Sena-BJP as a big plus for the State 8212; Kuber decided it was also time that the alliance played up its expressway achievement. He promptly announced daily conducted tours of the same.

A pamphlet being widely circulated urges parents to show the children 8220;the magnificent and inspiring works undertaken in this corner of the world8221;. Admittedly, the expressway work does involve some awesome contribution from both man and machinery, but one can hardly fail to notice that the BJP has chosen to trumpet its 8220;achievement8221; just when the elections are so close.

Confront Kuber with such a query and he readily agrees.8220;You can say that the alliance has started preparing,8221; says the man behind the tour. The month-long 8220;Chalo Expressway8221; programme has been organised in collaboration with the well-known Prasanna Travels.

The State Government8217;s road development corporation, headed by Kuber8217;s friend and mentor PWD minister Nitin Gadkari, the moving spirit behind the 84-km long dream project, has also extended a helping hand to Kuber8217;s scheme.

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Kuber is confident that two busloads of visitors everyday from Pune will get the right publicity for the BJP. Specially arranged luxury buses will leave from Kothrud area, take a left at Somatane Phata to reach the expressway and will go up to Khopoli before turning back for the return journey. That8217;s not all. Each pilgrim 8212; that is how Kuber describes the visitor 8212; will plant a sapling along the expressway. All this for only Rs 100 per head, age no bar.