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NCP stalwart Chagan Bhujbal
addressing a rally in Malegaon
March 03
(Photo: ummid.com) |
Malegaon: Lashing out at the
communal forces, Nashik Guardian Minister Chagan Bhujbal Saturday
urged the people to vote for development and give Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
a clear majority in the ensuing civic elections
expected to be held in coming months.
“I see the hope and anticipation in the eyes of the people who
looked fed-up of dirty communal politics and want development. I promise you that NCP is committed to the
development of entire Nashik district including Malegaon. If you
want a progressing Malegaon, you should get rid of corrupt and
communal leaders and bring us to power”, he said while listing a
host of projects completed and underway in Malegaon Taluka as a
result of the initiatives taken by him.
Coming down heavily on the communal forces, Chagan Bhujbal said,
there are leaders in the country who deliberately create rift
between two communities to gain political mileage. “Though it’s
slow, but a transition is definitely underway. People have now
started to recognise such forces.”
NCP stalwart Chagan Bhujbal, who led the party to an impressive
victory in the recently concluded elections in the neighboring Yeola, Satana, Manmad and Nandgaon towns, was addressing a massive
rally in Malegaon on Saturday to kick-start the party’s campaign
for the Malegaon Municipal Corporation elections.
In what he termed as a move to boost the NCP’s chances, Bhujbal
during the rally formally inducted local Mayor Abdul Malik Yunus
Eisa, and over a dozen sitting and former corporators into the
party fold.
Hinting that to convert Malegaon into a separate district is ‘a
matter of time’, he said, “The infrastructure needed for a
district is already under construction in Malegaon. Once this is
ready, there is no reason why the city could not be converted into
a separate district.”
In order to reach out directly to the gathering of over fifteen
thousand people, mostly Muslims, Chagan Bhujbal began his speech
with ‘Salam Alaikum’. Taking a cue from other speakers of the
rally who interspersed their speeches with Urdu couplets, the NCP
stalwart too used renowned Urdu poet Allama Iqbal’s famous couplet
to emphasise the NCP’s commitment towards the empowerment of the
people especially the minorities.
The hallmark of the rally, which was also addressed by Minister of
State for Education and Minorities Development Department Fauzia
Khan, and other NCP leaders from Nashik and Jalgaon districts, was
the choice of its venue. Not only that the ministers had to travel
the 2-km root of filthy lanes with 100% Muslim population
considered as ‘security risk’, the venue in itself was surrounded
by slums having no proper access to the main roads. Locals claimed
that the area was never visited by any minister in the past.
The election to the 80-member Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC)
- the biggest in the Nashik district after the Nashik Municipal
Corporation (NMC), is expected to be held in April/May. This will
be the first elections after Malegaon’s city limit was extended in
December last. Chagan Bhujbal’s Saturday rally has charged the
political atmosphere in Malegaon, which is expected to see a tough
electoral battle in the coming days.
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