BJP, rivals prepare for rural Maha showdown

It isn’t just the civic polls in Mumbai and other cities that political parties are busy preparing for, as plans are being made to win mandate even in rural Maharashtra. Beginning October, elections will be held for 26 zilla parishads (ZP), or district councils, which look after local governance in rural areas across the five regions of Maharashtra. The state election commission on Friday started the procedure to conduct the elections.

While the NCP and the Congress rule majority of the ZPs in the state, the ruling BJP is planning to increase its strength at the rural level. The outcome of the ZP elections will show whether the party has succeeded in establishing itself in rural Maharashtra.

Earlier this year, the BJP government presented the annual budget, which focused on rural areas and farmers.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached moveable and immovable properties worth Rs1,411 crore of businessman Vijay Mallya and United Brewaries (Holding) Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Saturday.

The provisional attachment includes bank balance of Rs34 crore, one flat each in Bengaluru and Mumbai, an industrial plot in Chennai, coffee plantations in Coorg and property in UB CITY and Kingfisher Tower areas of Bangalore.

A tweet from ED’s official handle read: “ED has attached properties worth Rs1,411 crore of Market Value of Vijay Mallya and UB (Holding) Ltd under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in Kingfisher Airlines’ IDBI Bank case.”

Mallya, whose defunct airlines owes more than Rs9,000 crore to various banks, left India on March 2.

The probe agency said investigations show the accused was disposing of properties to ensure “further proceedings under PMLA may be frustrated”.