Mumbai, Jan 12 (IANS) BJP legislator R. Tamil Selvan on Monday defended party leader K. Annamalai over his statement on Mumbai, saying his remarks were aimed at highlighting the city’s global importance and development under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, but were being deliberately misinterpreted for political gains.

“Our leader K Annamalai described Mumbai as a city respected across the world. What he wanted to say was that Mumbai is becoming the world’s number one city, chiefly because of the blessings of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Be it Metro projects, road construction or the provision of services, Mumbai has emerged as an important city on the global platform. Annamalai was talking in this context. He did not say anything wrong about it. However, his words are being distorted for political gains,” Selvan, the BJP legislator from Sion Koliwada, said.

Former IPS officer and ex-Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai, who was in Mumbai last week to campaign for the party in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, had said: “People want a triple engine government. This is the only metro city in the country where a triple engine is possible. Modi is in Delhi, Fadnavis is the Chief Minister and now Mumbai will have a BJP mayor. Mumbai is not a Maharashtra city but an international city. The budget of this city is Rs 75,000 crore. Chennai’s budget is Rs 8,000 crore while Bengaluru’s budget is Rs 19,000 crore. So you need good people in the administration to manage the finance and to manage the development.”

Responding to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray mocking his name as “Rasmalai”, Selvan said: “Raj Thackeray is a senior leader and many respect him. I still respect him, but he should respect others as well. I am also from Tamil Nadu, but I won the Assembly election three times with the support of around 90,000 Marathi voters so that I can serve them. They did not see my background.”

“It is the BJP’s outlook to give tickets to persons who serve society. Everyone should be respected. I serve here as a representative of the people, including Maharashtrians,” Selvan said.

Selvan further claimed that he had worked extensively in Maharashtra, saying: “I have visited several rural parts of Maharashtra and undertaken works like river cleaning and widening of riverbeds. I did not do this work in Tamil Nadu, but here in Maharashtra.”

Taking a dig at his critics, he said: “Now people have seen who uses foul language against our Chief Minister who works for the people. We oppose such use of foul language. Chief Minister Fadnavis will take appropriate action against such people.”

The BJP legislator also said he invokes Maharashtra’s icons in his speeches.

“Wherever I go to deliver a speech, I begin it by taking the names of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Lokmanya Tilak and Veer Savarkar. Is this the way to ridicule a person and his attire just because he is from south India?” he asked.

Commenting further on the controversy over Annamalai’s statement that Mumbai is not a Maharashtra city, Selvan said: “How can anyone separate Mumbai from Maharashtra? Not even a Prime Minister will be able to do it. Annamalai did not say those words out of disrespect. He was only saying that Mumbai has a global identity.”

–IANS

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