The BJP has once again accused the Shiv Sena of neglecting ‘Marathi manoos’ and forcing them to leave the city. It alleged that the Marathis are being ignored on many levels, be it internal posting in the BMC, compensation for project-affected people or selection of a contractor for development projects. The issue had first surfaced last month over the appointment of a non-Marathi employee to the post claimed by a Marathi officer on the criteria of seniority. The BJP had held a press conference two weeks back to target the Sena over it.

The issue resurfaced again on Wednesday after the civic administration sought permission to take back a proposal for the development of houses for sanitation workers under Ashray scheme. “Twelve proposals had come for discussion in the standing committee meeting. We opposed all proposals citing various reasons. The Shiv Sena still cleared 11 proposals that had non-Marathi contractors and rejected the one where a Marathi contractor had quoted the lowest amount. The Sena didn’t give any explanation for keeping it aside,” said Prabhakar Shinde, group leader of the BJP.