BJP MLCS attack Shinde over Thane coastal road

How can project cost more than double in 3 years, they ask; but their demand for SIT probe is turned down PRAVIN DAREKAR, BJP MLC

- Saurabha Kulshreshtha

MUMBAI: Just as the cold war between Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde seemed to have cooled, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fired another salvo at the Shiv Sena chief.

BJP members in the legislative council on Tuesday alleged corruption in the contract for the construction of the coastal road in Thane, adding that the alleged corruption had pushed up the project cost by ₹1,411 crore in just three years. They also demanded that the contract be probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The project had been approved when Shinde was chief minister in the previous Mahayuti government and also headed the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in his capacity as urban development minister. Moreover, the project relates to Shinde's home turf, having been elected from Kopri-Pachpakhadi in Thane.