Mumbai: Amid the controversy over the BMC administration’s proposal to lease new Toyota Innova Crysta SUVs for top political functionaries, Leader of the House and BJP’s Ganesh Khankar on Friday distanced himself from the move, stating that he had never sought new vehicles and had no intention of doing so.In a letter to municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide, Khankar said reports suggesting that the civic body was splurging public money on new vehicles had created a wrong impression among Mumbaikars. He said the opposition was deliberately misrepresenting the proposal without taking into account that the vehicles were to be procured on lease under the existing policy.“We have never demanded that new vehicles be taken on lease, nor have I submitted any such request earlier,” Khankar said in the letter.Instead, Khankar urged the civic administration to continue with the existing Mahindra Scorpio SUVs and ensure uniformity in vehicle allocation. He requested that all senior civic officers and chairpersons of statutory committees, barring the municipal commissioner and the mayor, be provided Scorpio vehicles of the same category so that there was parity among all functionaries.“I request you to issue the necessary orders so that equality is maintained and no special vehicle facilities are extended beyond the existing Scorpio fleet,” he said.The clarification comes days after the BMC floated a proposal to induct new Toyota Innova Crysta SUVs for the Leader of the House, Leader of the Opposition and chairpersons of statutory committees, replacing the existing Scorpio-N vehicles. The move had drawn criticism from opposition parties, including Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray, which questioned the timing of the proposed fleet upgrade and the expenditure involved.
