'Where Has The Money Gone? Whose Coffers Did It Go To?'

'Crores of rupees have been spent on paper but nothing has actually happened on the ground.'

In Thane's Kopri Pachpakhadi, a consituency Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has won in 2009, 2014 and 2019, as part of the undivided Shiv Sena, and which he is contesting again in 2024, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has pitted Shinde's mentor Anand Dighe's nephew Kedar Dighe as his opponent.

Considered as a masterstroke by insiders from Thackeray's Shiv Sena, they believe, this move will not only neutralise Shinde's claim to Anand Dighe's legacy, but will also shift a huge voter base of Shinde, who voted him because they considered him as Dighe's mentee and torchbearer of his legacy, vote for the nephew in the 2024 assembly election and might even upset Shinde's applecart.

Kedar Dighe, 44, takes a swipe at Eknath Shinde when he says that unlike his opponent he likes to have a direct conversation with people to understand their genuine issues.

"I don't believe in rath yatras; I believe in padyatras. I would rather meet people at their doorsteps and understand their genuine issues rather than just waving at them from some rath," Dighe tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com taking a swipe at Shinde's rath yatra in this constituency on the evening of November 10.

Ask him if he is locked in a neck-and-neck fight with the chief minister and does he fancy a chance to get elected from this constituency, Dighe says, "You did not get a tough contestant to fight since 2009. Also, you won three times on the groundswell of support from people who worship Anand Dighe saheb and Balasaheb Thackeray till today. This time you are on your own."

Anand Dighe was a Shiv Sena strongman from Thane district who died on August 26, 2001.

What are the main issues concerning the people of Kopri Pachpakhadi from where you are contesting as an Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) candidate against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena?

If you see carefully then for the last five years there has been no development on a concrete basis. Every time people get to hear only false promises. He (Eknath Shinde) sells only false dreams and promises to the voters of this constituency.

The major issue here relates to the dumping ground. The people who won from here did not think carefully about the amount of problem that people here will face because on somebody's whims the dumping ground was made within the city limits.

The place where I am campaigning right now (Sant Dnyaneshwar Nagar), people are complaining to me about drainage issues; we are getting every such issue photographed and videographed. They say that they have cleaned the drainage but now we are gathering the proof and even you can see the condition of drainage and sewers in this neighbourhood.

Crores of rupees have been spent on paper but nothing has actually happened on the ground. Where has the money gone then? Whose coffers did it go to?

This government is literally throwing all that taxpayers' money down the drain. Only the leaders belonging to the ruling party and this government are gaining at the expense of the taxpayers of this city (Thane) and state.

You have been pitted against Shinde who has been elected from this constituency, ever since it was formed in 2009. How do you plan to win this constituency?

If the people want to change their lives for good, if they want to wake up from their dreams and see the reality on the ground, if they see the development they have got in the last 15 years, they will realise their mistake. Precious years of their lives have been lost to false promises.

I would like the people of my constituency to think about their future and vote when they do so on November 20.

If they want their children, their families to live in an environment of better hygiene, better amenities, better health facilities for their sons and daughters then all the honest tax-paying people of this constituency will vote for change.

When I meet people they tell me that they have realised their mistake and will make amends this November 20.

(At this moment, a lady comes to Kedar Dighe and complains to him how she is not getting the benefit of government schemes and asks Dighe to help her fill some forms; Dighe asks her to meet his co-workers at a SS (UBT) shakha).

Did you ask this lady if she was one of the beneficiaries of the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana?

If you are giving them money then you are making them dependent. I would rather make them self-sufficient by making provisions for better job opportunities so that they can handle their expenses themselves.

You are not helping them set up businesses, you are not helping them gain job-oriented skills, youth who have got good skills are also not getting jobs here. All the industries that could provide large-scale employment have been moved away surreptitiously from Maharashtra to Gujarat.

If you were so concerned about providing Rs 1,500 to my dear sisters and mothers in this state, then what kept you waiting for three years? Why have you announced this scheme just a couple of months before the assembly election?

And now after doling out Rs 1,500 per month for the last three-four months you are blackmailing my mothers and sisters to vote for them or else... you are blackmailing them through speeches that they should not attend rallies and public meetings of MVA leaders. This is not just foolish but absolutely humiliating to the women of Maharashtra.

Use as much blackmailing and arm-twisting as possible today but don't forget that the MVA is coming to power on November 23 and when we come to power in Maharashtra, our mothers and sisters can rest assured that they will not only get Rs 5,000 every month (one of the major point in the Maha Vikas Aghadi manifesto) but opportunities that will help them skill up, schemes that will help them start their own businesses so that they become self-sufficient.

Ladki Bahin Yojana, cancelling toll payments at toll nakas is just plain nautanki (dramatics) to mislead voters. If you were so serious, why didn't you do all this when you came to power (in July 2022)?

Because of such brainless schemes Maharashtra is further plunging into debt and as of today we have a debt of Rs 8 lakh crore and this money, let me assure you, will be collected from the pockets of ordinary citizens and tax payers of Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray has from the day Eknath Shinde rebelled in June 2022 and formed a government with the BJP has labelled him and the all those who joined him as gaddar (traitor).
Has that label stuck on him in this constituency? Are you also raising this issue when you meet voters? What if this narrative by SS (UBT) proves counter-productive?

It is not the Shiv Sena (UBT) or Kedar Dighe who believe that Eknath Shinde is gaddar. It is the people of this state, people of Thane that believe so.

When he (Eknath Shinde) says that he always follows Dighe saheb (the late Anand Dighe, a fountainhead of a figure in Thane and Palghar district according to Shiv Sena workers cutting across the two Senas; Kedar Dighe is the son of Prakash Dighe, Anand Dighe's brother) he is hoodwinking people.

Dighe saheb would have never betrayed Shiv Sena and joined hands with the BJP to form a government by backstabbing the Shiv Sena, Balasaheb Thackeray and Uddhavji.

If you want to follow your guru (Eknath Shinde takes great pride in calling himself a protege of Anand Dighe and of carrying forward his legacy claiming he is the real heir to Dighe's legacy in Thane), then also follow his principles, his ethics and ideals.

These guys (the Shiv Sena MLAs who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray) have never done that; in fact, they killed all the values that (the late Anand) Dighe saheb espoused.

The people of Thane will teach the gaddars a lesson they would never forget for killing Dighe saheb's values, ethics and principles by joining hands with the BJP and backstabbing Uddhav Thackeray.

Are you telling this to the people who you meet asking them to vote for you? Are you asking people to vote for you on this issue?

Kedar Dighe is not saying this. It is the people of Thane who tell me this when I visit their homes. They show me a photograph of Dighe saheb and start sobbing telling me stories of how Dighe saheb had helped them when he was alive. They tell me that Eknath Shinde compromised on the ideals and principles of Dighe saheb.

Go to any corner of Maharashtra, people will tell you exactly what they have been telling me. Though he has been in power for the last two-and-a-half years what has he done for the people, for Dighe saheb?

Will it be a neck-and-neck fight between you and Chief Minister Shinde?

He keeps tom-tomming that he is carrying forward the legacy of Dighe saheb. Mine is a blood relation with Dighe saheb.

I don't have to secretly finance two propaganda films to establish my relationship or bonding with Dighe saheb. Through Dharmaveer I and Dharmaveer II, he is trying to convince the people who vote for him that whatever he did (the rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray) was to save Dighe saheb's legacy.

People know that he (Eknath Shinde) did that with an ulterior intention. Honestly, he has miserably failed; people are not so foolish; they are educated; they know who has done what to gain power by hook or by crook and the people of Thane will prove that on November 20.

Do you make an attempt to drive this sentiment across to the people who you meet during your door-to-door visits?

People are more occupied with the problems they face in their routine lives. They strive for making their lives and their families' lives better. I don't want to bother them with these emotive issues. They do express their deep sense of betrayal but I try to focus on exposing whatever has not been done in this constituency for the last 15 years.

I talk about better, higher education for the children of mothers and fathers I meet; I talk about providing schemes that would offer them cleaner air and better health and health facilities when they need it the most. I talk to them how I can help them solve the issue of traffic jams on roads. I tell them that you have elected someone who has failed to meet these genuine public aspirations.

You talk abouts cluster redevelopment by asking people to leave their existing houses and move outside the city limits till their homes are rebuilt. Why are you asking them to relocate to place far from their existing homes? What is your intention?

People are not moving out because they don't have any confidence in the false promises of this man.

I have a suggestion to all those political leaders encouraging such cluster redevelopment: Leave your 10,000 sq ft palatial bungalows and move to 250 sq ft tenements; stay with the people who you are trying to relocate using your cunning and guile till the time they get possession of their redeveloped homes.

Trust me. If you do this the people will start trusting you.

You did not get a tough contestant to fight since 2009. Also, you won three times on the groundswell of support from people who worship Anand Dighe saheb and Balasaheb Thackeray till today. This time you are on your own.