BJP had 'no time' to take permission for Sangma posters

Mumbai: How did the BJP welcome the NDA presidential candidate P A Sangma to the city on Tuesday? Believe it or not, by flouting BMC norms and pasting illegal hoardings. Asked why they hadn't bothered to take permission, party leaders said that they had not had 'the time'.

Mr Sangma, who was in Mumbai on Tuesday to meet party leaders of the BJP, passed through the Indian Merchant Chambers office in Churchgate to address the press.

Here, his loyal party men decided to paste banners all across the street, even on the railings of the divider, electrical posts and on the no-parking signs.

MiD DAY found out that all these hoardings were illegal. Immediately after the press conference, the A ward officers received a complaint and a senior inspector was sent to the spot.

The banners were immediately pulled down.

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Devidas Kshirsagar, ward officer for A ward, said, "The BJP had taken no permission for the hoardings. They submitted no proposal. We have taken action now, and all the hoardings have been removed. Such illegal hoardings won't be tolerated any more in this ward and I request alert citizens to inform me about the same." Meanwhile, a senior BJP official agreed that they hadn't taken the permission owing to time constraints.

Niranajan Shetty, spokesperson for the BJP, said, "We had put up hoardings to inform people about the arrival of Sangmaji, who's our nominee for the President's post. The BMC takes a lot of time to give such permissions, and on most occasions the BMC doesn't give permission. Hence we went ahead and put the posters."

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He further claimed that the BMC's ward office should take action on other important issues rather than targeting the BJP over some posters.

Ironically, the BMC is run by the BJP-Sena-RPI alliance, and the city's deputy mayor is a BJP man.