Cameraperson: Sumit Badola

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bharadwaj

One of the first announcements Uddhav Thackeray made after becoming the chief minister of Maharashtra is that his government would “review” the Mumbai Ahmedabad bullet train project.

This has brought focus to the contracts given under the bullet train project – officially known as Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Railway project (MAHSR) – which is an Indo-Japanese joint venture.

The Quint found out that at least four of the tenders under the MAHSR project were given to firms that have donated to the BJP in the past.

For instance, a tender for “Leasing of space for computerised reservation system complex of Western Railways near Vadodara Station” has been given to Gujarat-based company Cube Construction Engineering Limited. It turns out that the company has been an active donor of the BJP.

According to the details of donations released by the BJP, the company has donated a total of Rs 55 lakh to the BJP in three separate transactions: Two in financial year 2012-13 and one in 2017-18.