Aaditya Thackeray spokesperson of Urban naxals, says BJP’s Ashish Shelar over Adani allegations

Aaditya Thackeray had questioned the BMC’s decision to auction more land parcels in the city. Pic/Atul Kamble

A day after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray took swipes at the Mahayuti government for allotting land to the Adani Group for people affected by the Dharavi redevelopment project, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said the Opposition leader was deliberately trying to spread fake narrative and misleading Dharavi residents.

Even as Shelar countered Thackeray on the Dharavi project, the youth leader spoke about the BMC's move to auction the city's more land parcels, including some iconic places, to raise funds. He said the BMC would lose both land and funds.

BJP Mumbai President Ashish Shelar. Pic/Ashish Raje

"This seems to be an international conspiracy and Aaditya Thackeray seems to have become the spokesperson of urban Naxals," Shelar said, questioning Thackeray's claim that the Adani Group was given 1,080 acres of land. "He should show a government paper or cabinet decision that proves that 1,080 acres have been transferred to Adani. I will quit politics if he does so, or else he should retire from politics," stated Shelar.

Thackeray had said that the land of Dharavi that will undergo redevelopment and the pieces of land elsewhere in the city together measured 1,080 acres. "Neither the BMC land nor toll naka land has been given. But the salt pan lands of Kanjurmarg and Mulund, and plots in Kurla and Madh, totalling 540 acres, have been given not to Adani but to the Dharavi Development Project headed by a bureaucrat. Aaditya Thackeray must ask his father as to why he had agreed in writing to give this space," said Shelar.

He said the Adani Group-led entity which was given a contract would pay for the land at the rate equivalent to 25 per cent of the ready reckoner price to the owners of the plot, which is estimated to be Rs 3,000 crore. "If 25 per cent of the ready reckoner price is received by the BMC and the government, as per the SRA rules, why are they spreading lies," he asked. According to Shelar, who represents the ruling alliance, nearly 430 acres of Dharavi land was available for redevelopment which will open spaces, playgrounds and gardens and roads.