Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday took a veiled dig at Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray over his letter to the Mumbai civic body and said some people suffer stomach pain as they cannot see good works happening in the city.
Fadnavis also praised Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal for doing a "good job". Speaking at the civic body's function to launch the "Mazi Mati Maza Desh" (My Soil My County) campaign at the August Kranti Maidan here, Fadnavis said Mumbai is changing under the leadership of chief minister Eknath Shinde and works of beautification and concretisation are going on in a large scale.
Tributes were paid to martyrs at the Maidan to mark the 81st anniversary of the Quit India movement. "As good works are going on in Mumbai, some people are suffering from a stomachache and writing letters every day. If he (Aaditya) had written a similar letter to himself 25 years ago, Mumbai would have been changed for the better," Fadnavis added.
Earlier this week, Aaditya Thackeray, the MLA from the Worli assembly constituency, had written to Chahal requesting to scrap the toll charged from motorists on Mumbai's Eastern and Western expressways. The BMC was ruled by Shiv Sena (undivided) for more than two decades till March 2022 when the term of the civic body ended. The elections are yet to be declared.
At the event on Wednesday, attended by CM Shinde, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and other dignitaries, Fadnavis praised Chahal. "You are doing good work. It is said that the house of cynics should be in one's neighbourhood and such people are sitting next to you. Every day they will point fingers at you but don't give them a chance to do so. Do one work at a time with transparency and honesty," Fadnavis said.
If Mumbai keeps changing like this the dream of CM Shinde to rid roads of potholes will be fulfilled soon, he said. Fadnavis also praised BMC and Chahal for revamping the historic August Kranti Maidan.
