Pune MP Murlidhar Mohol, who had been entrusted with the charge of election campaign for municipal councils, municipal corporations and the yet-to-be-held Zila Parishad elections, and who had predicted a clear victory for the BJP in the Pune civic polls, tells Sunanda Mehta about the results and the way forward.
You have been predicting a big victory for the BJP all along despite formidable opposition from a united NCP. Where did this confidence come from?
I knew BJP would win because of that. Pune public beliefs in development and progress. Pune has always given the BJP a chance to work for them, be it Lok Sabha, the Assembly or the last municipal elections. That is why I know that the citizens of Pune have seen our work and believe in our ability to bring progress to the city. In fact, they firmly believe that only the BJP can take charge of their future. Working under the leadership of Modiji and Fadnavisji I could feel that Punekars have faith in us, and this gave me the confidence to declare that we will win the civic body elections.
His prediction of the numbers was also quite accurate.
Since last week I have been saying that we will get to at least 120-125 and we will be the biggest game. This was reinforced in the early hours when trends began to appear. The Puneites have reposed their faith in us because of the work we have done for them.
At the end of the campaign, you also took on Ajit Pawar and responded to his allegations against the BJP.
Be it the citizens of Pune or the national voters, they give utmost importance to the issue of development. They know the value of progress and that’s why they listen when we talk about our work. If, on the other hand, you establish a negative narrative of tearing others down in front of the population, they simply will not accept it. And this is precisely what happened in PMC and also in PCMC. Hon’ble Ajit Pawar used a very wrong narrative accusing the BJP of corruption, among other things. This was simply not appreciated by the people. The two PNC parties came together just to present this type of campaign. In fact, they were the ones who fined criminals and abused the power of money. People in Pune don’t like these things. They can evaluate and understand parties and politicians and, most importantly, they want when they vote for a candidate, they will get progress in return. Because of what we presented to the people during our campaigns, they trusted us and rejected the NCP combine.
Now that you are back in power, what are your plans for Pune?
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There is a lot of work to do. We have a triple engine government at the centre, state and city and we will use it for the benefit of the people. The Metro project must go as promised. Then there is the airport expansion project and the need to strengthen our public transportation system. We have to complete the river project that we are committed to and we have planned an ambitious project of 24/7 water supply to all parts of the city. We need to work to preserve the image of a green city, build great infrastructure and achieve better traffic management. Basically, we will deliver on all the promises we made in our manifesto.
Will the results make a difference now for the Mahayuti alliance in the state, especially since the fight with the alliance partners was not really friendly as stated earlier?
It won’t make any difference, but it will be the national leaders who will really think about this and decide. There have been many local body elections in Maharashtra, but the BJP has fought alone everywhere. Yes, the elections didn’t turn out as friendly as we thought, but that’s because the people in front of us didn’t behave that way. So let’s see now. We will work in accordance with the decisions and directives of our leadership.
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