Credit Crunch

As Congress gets praise for the sea link, Shiv Sena and BJP say project was conceived by them

As Congress gets praise for the sea link, Shiv Sena and BJP say project was conceived by them

With Assembly elections coming up in October, the brand new Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) seems to be caught in the middle of a political tug of war, as parties race to claim credit for the project.

While the Congress managed to get party president Sonia Gandhi to inaugurate the project, which was actually executed by the Public Works Department ministry presently in the hands of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Sena-BJP alliance is upset over the state government's attempt to take credit for a project that was conceived during their rule.
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Ideator: Posters in the city thank BJP state president Nitin Gadkari the man who proposed the idea of BWSL on behalf of Mumbaikars

BJP posters with photographs of state president Nitin Gadkari have sprung up across the city. They not only claim credit for the project, but also question its delay and cost overrun.
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In fact, Gadkari was indeed the architect of the project and had conceived it at a much lower
cost when the saffron alliance was in power.

Bhoomi poojan

BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, "If they can turn the inauguration of a project that has been executed with cost overruns and delays into a political move for the Assembly elections, shouldn't we claim credit for what we have done? Gadkari also performed the bhoomi poojan.

He is the real architect of the project and they should have invited him. It is the brand of politics practiced by the Congress."

"The cost exceeded from the initial amount of around Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,634 crore, and the project is still not complete.

While Gadkari completed the Mumbai-Pune Expressway within three years, the Congress-NCP government took 10 years to complete the BWSL," added Bhandari.

Shouldn't we claim credit for what we have done?
Madhav Bhandari, BJP spokesperson