Day after reported that the BMC had awarded a Rs 14-crore trash-boom contract to a firm earlier disqualified over an FIR in the Mithi River desilting case, the Opposition targeted the Mahayuti government and questioned the civic body’s decision.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar alleged that the BJP had previously levelled corruption charges against the company while in the Opposition but was now allowing it to receive a BMC contract.

“The BJP leaders, who were leveling corruption charges against a certain company when they were not in power, have now awarded a Rs 14 crore contract to the very same company by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Accuse someone relentlessly until your throat goes dry, file cases once you come to power, and then hand out tenders to those same companies again for financial gain- this is the true modus operandi of BJP’s corruption,” Pawar said in a post on X.

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Referring to the Mithi desilting case, Pawar asked, “Under whose pressure was a Rs 14-crore contract again awarded to a company found involved in the Mithi River silt case? Will the Chief Minister conduct an inquiry into this, or will the company once again be given a free hand to indulge in corruption?”

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said, “The BJP has started the business of looting Mumbai. First, they make corruption allegations, then join hands with those against whom they had made the allegations, and together exploit power and public money for financial gain. This has been the BJP’s way of functioning.”

“The BJP has its eye on the financial management of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. In the name of using the civic body’s deposits of around Rs 90,000 crore, an effort is under way to gradually exhaust them. Around Rs 30,000 crore has already been spent and now the remaining amount is being used up,” Sapkal said.

“The BJP’s plan is to weaken Mumbai’s financial strength by exhausting all the deposits of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation…,” he alleged.

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The Opposition’s reactions followed the IE report that Virgo Specialities Pvt Ltd had earlier been disqualified from two BMC tenders under a clause barring contractors “who are blacklisted or against whom FIR has been filed”. The firm was subsequently declared technically eligible for the latest tender after arguing that the Mithi FIR was against its then director Jay Joshi, in his personal capacity, and not the company.