BJP fumes as Shiv Sena 'hijacks' Palghar Lok Sabha seat
Palghar (Maharashtra), May 8: Amidst a massive show of strength, Shiv Sena candidate Srinivas C. Vanga on Tuesday filed his nomination for the by-election to the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency, virtually hijacking the seat from its fuming ally Bharatiya Janata Party.
The May 28 bypoll was necessitated after the sudden demise of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Vanga on January 30, who was the party's face and strongman in the predominantly tribal district bordering Gujarat.
This afternoon, Srinivas Vanga, accompanied by several Shiv Sena ministers and other leaders, arrived in an open truck procession with a sea of saffron flags and turbans in front and behind, thousands carrying posters and banners of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, to file his candidature.
The development came five days after the Vanga family met Thackeray in Mumbai and decided to join the Shiv Sena after accusing the BJP of "ignoring" them after Chintaman Vanga's death.
A rattled BJP leadership attempted to mollify the Vangas with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday publicly appealing to them to reconsider their decision.
Denying the family's allegations, he also declared that the BJP had virtually finalised giving a party ticket to a member of the Vanga family, but his pleas were ignored.
Over the next couple of days, several BJP state ministers, legislators and party leaders rushed to Palghar to convince the Vanga family to return to the party fold, but by Monday evening, the Shiv Sena finally cleared Srinivas Vanga's name as its candidate for the bypoll.
This is the first time that the Shiv Sena has practically "snatched" a seat from its ally BJP's quota even as the two parties are in alliance, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
However, in the past the BJP-Shiv Sena contested the 2014 Lok Sabha together, but fought the 2014 assembly separately after a poll-eve collapse of the alliance.
The severed alliance was resumed a couple of months after the Fadnavis-led BJP minority government took oath then (2014) and Shiv Sena walked over from the Opposition benches to become a ruling coalition partner.
While the BJP has not yet officially declared its nominee for Palghar, a new dimension was added when local strong force Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) on Tuesday announced it will contest the seat, as also the Congress.
Launching a veiled attack on Shiv Sena, the BVA said that in Palghar, only three parties are natural contestants for the seat - the BVA, BJP and Congress, "and the people will not tolerate any outsider (Shiv Sena) in the election, though the late Chintaman Vanga had earned great respect for his work and clean image here".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
