04 July,2024 10:10 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Indian Cricket team during the victory parade after ICC cricket T20 World Cup win. Pic/Sameer Abdedi
The selection of a bus for the victory procession of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team on Mumbai's iconic Marine Drive has evoked sharp reactions from the opposition parties.
State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, "The bus used in the victory procession of the 2007 T20 World Cup was a BEST (Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply & Transport) bus. Today, a bus from Gujarat was requisitioned for the event. Isn't this Maharashtra's insult?"
"Or is it that quality buses are not made in Mumbai? Why is the chief minister silent?" Sawant said.
As per the PTI report, he blamed former Mumbai Cricket Association president and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar for bypassing the BEST bus and opting for a bus from Gujarat.
Sharad Pawar-led NCP MLA Rohit Pawar said a BEST bus should have been used for the victory procession.
"We are emotionally connected with the 'BEST' bus," he added, reported PTI.
Senior state BJP minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, responding to the allegations said, "It is the Indian team that has won the World Cup and not a team of Mumbai or Gujarat. Those making such divisive remarks should remember this."
According to the report, the bus, manufactured by Eicher and owned by Moving Cart Entertainment, a Gujarat-based company, was registered by the Gandhinagar RTO in March 2020.
The double-decker open-deck bus is normally stationed in Mumbai and has not been brought from Gujarat exclusively for this event, the owner told PTI.
After BEST scrapped the last few diesel-run open-deck double-decker buses in its fleet last year, the city is left with only one such bus that is owned by the state-run tourism body, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).
This is the second time the victory parade of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team is being held on the Mumbai streets in an open deck bus.
In 2007, the victory parade of the team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni was taken out from the airport to Wankhede Stadium.
India ended their 11-year wait for a global trophy, overcoming South Africa, who choked at the business end of the match by seven runs to emerge champions in the T20 World Cup 2024 final.
It was India's second T20 World Cup victory after they had won it in 2007 under the legendary MS Dhoni in South Africa, and first since winning the Champions Trophy in 2013.
