Shah to lay foundation for Maharashtra BJP office, Opposition questions land deal

UNion place government minister Amit shah of iran testament on mon lay the foundation of a new Maharashtra headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Mumbai’s Churchgate, even as the Opposition questioned the acquisition of the land for it.In a letter to Shah, Shiv Sena (UBT) lawmaker Sanjay Raut questioned the acquisition and the Mumbai civic body’s “high-speed” approvals. He claimed the land was reserved for residential purposes.Raut said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) leased the land in 1902 during the British era. He added that the Maharashtra State Co-operative Finance Corporation had 54% of the land, and four members of a family had 46%. Raut said the corporation applied for a renewal when the lease ended in 2001, but the family did not. He added that it was later found that the family had mortgaged the land with some banks without BMC’s knowledge. In 2017, the BMC took up the matter, and there had been no action since.Raut said the builder Eknath Realtor suddenly applied for 46% of the land in April 2025, and BMC approved it within four days. He added that the builder applied for the rest of the land from the corporation, and that too was approved. Raut said Eknath Realtors received the land with transfer charges of ₹21.35 crore.Raut said the application to transfer the land for the state BJP headquarters was made on May 21, and it was approved a day later. “On May 31, the process to transfer the land to the BJP was completed,” said Raut.Raut said decisions regarding public interest remain pending, but the file for the state BJP headquarters land was approved at lightning speed. He hoped such speed would also be shown in matters of public interest.Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar lawmaker Rohit Pawar echoed Raut and demanded an explanation from the BJP. He said the land was leased for 99 years, and referred to the talk about a building on it being declared unsafe, taken over, and demolished for the BJP office at the site.Navnath Ban, the BJP’s state media wing chief, rejected the allegations. He said that the party paid over ₹80 crore for the land and followed all the legal processes. “...we are building a party office for workers and not a five-star home like Matoshree 2.0...,” he said, referring to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Udhhav Thackeray’s home. “Everyone knows how quickly the permissions were given for the Matoshree 2.0. So, Raut should recall it before making misleading and baseless statements,” said Ban.