The Belapur and Airoli constituencies in Navi Mumbai are mired in controversy. Several feathers were ruffled in the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) when Sandeep Naik and his father Ganesh Naik, both from the NCP, were nominated to contest from the Airoli and Belapur constituencies respectively.
It is presumed the father-son duo will win, but the road won’t be smooth. Many close aides and associates of the NCP, the Congress, and primarily Ganesh Naik have quit due to his corrupt practices. “I am an NCP corporator, but I refuse to support Ganesh Naik.
There is extensive corruption in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). He has not nurtured new workers, since he cannot look beyond his own family,” said Ramesh Shinde.
The anti-Ganesh Naik mood is increasing by the day. After his son Sanjeev’s win in the Lok Sabha elections, Naik had promised to reserve a seat for the Congress party. But when he failed to live up to his word, over 350 workers, led by Namdev Bhagat, resigned from the Congress to form a new party, the Navi Mumbai Congress Vikas Aghadi (NMCVA).
“We are still Congressmen and will remain loyal. We have always supported Naik, but at some time we expect returns. He has let us down yet again,” said Neela Limaye, former president of the women’s wing of Congress.
Eknath Dukhande, a former Congressman from Nerul, claimed that Naik’s men in the corporation were nothing short of goons. “His corporators have been arrested for a huge scam in the NMMC. He has hired men to spread terror, and we are fed up of the goondagiri.”
“Naik is a major donor to trusts of various communities. He has allowed construction of temples in green zones. He has paid huge sums for building temples and worship sites for other communities. This is his way of garnering votes from them,” said Sandeep Kadam, a Sena shakha pramukh.
