Campa Cola colony: The continuing battle between Chavan, Deora

The Campa Cola buildings’ demolition may have been stayed and the residents in a huddle over their next course of action, but the drama is far from over. If anything, it has moved from the upscale locality of Worli in South-Central Mumbai to the offices of the Congress party and to New Delhi. With a Congress Member of Parliament appearing to be aligned with the residents of the unauthorised houses and demanding that the chief minister intervene to help the residents, Prithviraj Chavan, appearing to be caught in a peculiar situation, dug his heels in and indicated that it was legally simply not expedient for him to intervene in a Supreme Court-ordered demolition. [caption id=“attachment_123560” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Minister of State Milind Deora[/caption] That Deora was unhappy with the CM’s stand on the issue was obvious: He tweeted: “Maha’s CM must also clearly state his intent & ability (or legal inability) to help. Like residents, I’m growing increasingly wary.” A few days earlier, he had tweeted that the Campa Cola case differs from all others because “home buyers were duped by builders & BMC officials”. In reality, court judgments including the Supreme Court’s own judgment of February 2013 had said it was clear that residents were in the know about irregularities in the building. Another tweet from Deora: “Not easy to regularise what’s declared illegal by India’s highest court. But Campa Cola residents still haven’t lost hope & neither have I!” Chavan, however, did not relent. Deora also wrote to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, stating: “If the chief minister and the state were to move faster in exploring legal options for the residents of Campa COla Compound, we can hope for a favourable outcome.” The Campa Cola buildings’ case is not the first time that the South Mumbai Member of Parliament and a Union minister of state, also considered close to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, has spoken out against the Maharashtra state government. In April last year, Deora joined a chorus of voices complaining about the slow progress of various Mumbai projects. “Mumbai’s Aquarium & Zoo revamp further delayed. No progress on Girni Kamgar issue & Sewri-Nhava Sea Link. Severe decision deficit in Maha,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site. He, however, replied to one post on Chavan’s clean image saying, “I too believe in his intent and sincerity”. The anti-Chavan camp in Maharashtra is large and varied, and the chief minister perhaps does not need a two-time MP to join those forces. A report in the Indian Express said this new faceoff had caused tensions to run high. The report said : Deora denied there was a rift between him and the chief minister but, at the same time, clarified that he had expected “people in the state” — meaning Chavan’s government — to be “more accessible and responsive”. On the Campa Cola case, Chavan reportedly informed the Congress leadership that the residents had known about the missing permissions, had been ordering tanker water for years in the absence of municipal water supply. He reportedly also informed Delhi that the advocate-general had advised against an ordinance. The normally silent Chief Minister also took on his party MP saying that he didn’t have to contest elections from south Mumbai and said that he had to operate within the law on the issue. In an exclusive interview with Mumbai Mirror , he said: “I had the responsibility to find a solution within the framework of law. Which is what I did .I did not have the responsibility to fight elections from there [south Mumbai where Campa Cola is located] as Deora does. That is why he is speaking from a different perspective.” With neither the Campa Cola tale over nor the electoral compulsions in the prestigious South Mumbai Lok Sabha seat fully clear yet, this could be a faceoff with another, later chapter.