BJP wants Mahalaxmi Racecourse converted into public garden

MUMBAI: Opposition BJP on Tuesday demanded that the famous Mahalaxmi Racecourse here be converted into a public garden on the lines of Mysore garden.

"At present, people interested in horse-racing only go at the Racecourse, which is more of gambling. Since the lease period is ending, a beautiful garden on the lines of the ones in Mysore and Lucknow be built there," senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde told reporters here.

BJP's demand came ahead of the expiry of the 99-year-old lease the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had signed in 1914 with the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), which manages the 225-acre Mahalaxmi Racecourse, one of the landmarks of the metropolis.

The lease period expires on May 31, 2013. However, Munde refused to state unambiguously whether such public garden be named after late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

"He (Bal Thackeray) devoted his life for the people. He was a a leader of great stature and had saved the city during riots. If names of Yashwantrao (Chavan), Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi could be given to various places then there should not be any objection to name the garden after Bal Thackeray," Munde said.

BJP's alliance partner Shiv Sena too proposed that the Racecourse premises be developed into a public garden-cum-theme park.

Shiv Sena leader and Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu recently wrote to BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte aksing him not to renew the lease of the Royal Western India Turf Club.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray yesterday said that his party would back any proposal seeking to name the public garden after the late party patriarch.