Maharashtra Cong lampoons Deora for slamming Uddhav's BMC rule over Palghar pothole accident

Mumbai, Oct 10 (PTI) The Maharashtra Congress on Friday said Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora does not have any understanding of public issues or the patience to examine a problem in depth.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant was reacting to Deora's criticism of the 30-year rule of Uddhav Thackeray's (undivided) Shiv Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation while highlighting the death of a woman in an accident caused by a pothole in neighbouring Palghar district.

"Deora never had the time to meet his own party workers, let alone the common people. Naturally, he could never develop a real understanding of public issues or the patience required to examine any problem in depth. The result is he almost always ends up with a superficial point of view," Sawant said.

Deora comes up with absurd and cavalier statements like suggesting that protests should be banned in south Mumbai, Sawant added.

In the accident case, Sawant said Deora didn't even care to open the news link and read it properly.

"Due to administrative negligence, a tragic accident occurred in which Mrs. Anita Patil lost her life after the motorcycle she was riding pillion on fell into a pothole. This unfortunate incident took place on the Palghar-Manor-Vikramgad-Jawhar highway, yet Deora somehow linked it to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation," Sawant said.

Had he taken the trouble to verify the facts, he would have known that this is a national highway, for which the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had awarded a maintenance contract in March 2024, Sawant said.

"The contractor-Mr. Bhushan Bhanushali- is a BJP District Secretary. Would Deora have the courage to question the BJP on this," Sawant asked.

While the opposition has every right to speak about bad roads, corruption and greed, Deora does not even realise that the BMC has been under the administrative control of the Mahayuti government and his own leader through the Urban Development department (referring to Eknath Shinde) for the past three years, Sawant said.

Earlier, in a post on X, Deora said, "This news is heartbreaking. No family should lose a loved one because of potholes & negligence. For the first time in Mumbai's history, bad roads, corruption and greed will become electoral issues. Those who profited for 30 years while Mumbaikars suffered must be held accountable." Deora, a former Union minister when he was with the Congress, joined Shinde's Sena before the Lok Sabha polls last year. He was made a Rajya Sabha member. PTI MR BNM