Dinesh Kamath's news 'Politicians seek the help of builders as civic polls approach nearer' that was published in Newsband

Politicians seek the help of builders as civic polls approach nearer

By Dinesh Kamath

VASHI: The unexpected results of the just recently concluded assembly elections have made the politicians of Navi Mumbai work out new tactics to adopt during the civic elections which are just a few months away. One of the tactics these politicians have come up with is that of targeting the city builders to amass revenue from them to enable them fight the elections in a big way.

The builders are feeling pressurized by these politicians. Those builders particularly who depend heavily on civic body to pursue their business are unable to refuse to part with the sum demanded by the politicos. They just cannot afford to displease these politicians who can be of great use to these builders if they manage to win seats in the civic body.

The politicians are of the opinion that these builders have a huge stock of black money and hence it shouldn’t be a big deal for them to part with the sum demanded by the politicians.

Since the civic elections are just round the corner, the builders have already started receiving phone calls from those politicians who are likely to contest the elections. Those builders who are undergoing a bad phase in their business are in a state of panic since they are unable to decide as to how to deal with these politicos and how to convince them about the horrible situations they are in as far as their business is concerned. The thing is if these builders don't pay the politician and in case that particular candidate happens to win the election, then the builder is bound to be taken to task by the winning candidate. Hence many builders fear to refuse paying the politicians. Those builders, who have not yet been contacted by the politicos, keep wishing that they don’t receive calls from them and asked to part with their hard-earned money. 

It is a common knowledge that builders and politicians are mutually dependent and the need of builders’ help is particularly felt by the politicians during the time of elections. The builders also need the cooperation of the elected politicians after the election period. In the past, many elections have been won by the politicians by depending heavily on builders’ money and once they won the elections they took care to see that they pay back those builders with interest. But for the builders it is a gamble since if the politicians to whom they pay cash loses the elections then it is a real big loss for them. Sometimes it could be irrecoverable loss.

The prices of all the commodities have risen today and so also there is a need of much more money to fight elections today as compared to the past. Hence, when a builder gambles by paying certain amount to a politician to fight an election, he could be in for a huge gain or he may lose disastrously. Hence many builders undergo most uneasy experiences during the election period.