Patole pooh-poohs Gadkari’s tall claims of development

Nagpur: Dismissing tall claims of development by sitting MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Congress candidate

Nana Patole

has demanded that the government should come out with a white paper giving details of the Rs80,000 crore that the minister claims he has brought to Nagpur and Vidarbha in various projects.

Patole, who will be taking on Gadkari in the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur seat, said the white paper should also explain the source of the funds and what will be the financial burden on citizens. Patole also slammed the BJP and Gadkari for “failure to develop Mihan in the last five years and “gifting away land to Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali venture”.

Sounding optimistic, Patole said he was not overawed by Gadkari’s larger than life image as politician. “In a democracy, it is the people (read voter) who is mighty, not the leader. No politician is big enough to take voters for granted,” said Patole.

Addressing his first press conference here along with city Congress president Vikas Thakre, Patole said the people were so disillusioned by the Modi government’s unfulfilled promises that they would decisively vote for a change and throw the BJP out of power.

“Lok Sabha elections are fought on national issues. So, we will raise how Modi has failed on issues of national security. China has surrounded us on all sides with presence in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and snubbed India by vetoing the move in UN to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist. Yet, China is flooding its goods and getting business in India,” said Patole trying to push the argument that the country would do better without Modi at the helm.

On the local front, he said under Gadkari’s nose the Nagpur Municipal Corporation had gone bankrupt as its land assets were handed over to the MahaMetro and water works to a private company which has failed to provide 24X7 water supply to citizens in many localities. “At the same time, property tax was hiked by 10 times in the city,” he said.

If elected by defeating Gadkari, Patole promised to set the NMC in order, put the Mihan project on track as planned by ex-MP Vilas Muttemwar and examine the land deal with Patanjali. Providing jobs and improving health care facilities by improving conditions in GMCH and speeding up AIIMS work would be his priorities, he said.

Patole also questioned the haste in opening Metro rail on a small section when no route was completed. “The cement roads across over the city were so ill-engineered that one big rain could see rainwater entering every house along any cement road,” he said.