BJP suspends ‘Aakrosh Andolan’ against BMC in wake of Buldhana bus tragedy

PTI, Jul 1, 2023, 5:49 PM IST

In light of the deadly bus accident on the Samruddhi Expressway that claimed the lives of 25 people, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Saturday suspended its ”Aakrosh Andolan” to protest against the alleged corruption in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Taking to Twitter, the BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar expressed grief at the loss of lives in the expressway accident.

“We have decided to suspend the BJP-Shiv Sena-RPI protest against those who looted Mumbai for 25 years. However, we will continue to ask them questions,” Shelar tweeted in an apparent reference to the Thackerays.

The BJP-Shiv Sena ”Akrsoh Andolan” was being viewed as a counter protest against a march organised by the Shiv Sena (UBT) to protest against corruption in the city civic body.

The then undivided Shiv Sena controlled the BMC for 25 consecutive years from 1997-2022.

Twenty-five passengers were charred to death after the bus they were travelling in caught fire after hitting a divider following a tyre burst on the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district in the wee hours of Saturday.

The private bus carrying 33 passengers was on its way from Nagpur to Pune when it rammed into a divider around 1.30 am at Pimpalkhuta village near Sindkhedraja in Buldhana, around 134 km from here.