Mayor objects to BJP MLA’S comment
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) has asked the Mumbai police commissioner to submit a report about a remark passed by BJP leader Ashish Shelar about Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar in connection with the November 30 cylinder blast in Worli. Meanwhile, Pednekar has also written to Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil that she is filing a police complaint in the matter.
On November 30, a fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded at BDD chawl in Worli. Four persons were admitted, of whom three died including a four-month-old boy. Shelar, while addressing a press conference on December 4, slammed the mayor for visiting the site nearly 72 hours after the incident. Shelar allegedly remarked, “Where were you (the mayor) sleeping for so many hours?”
Pednekar took exception to his mention of the word ‘sleeping’. In her letter to Dilip Walse Patil, she wrote, “The mayor of Mumbai is the first citizen and it is a very important post. The term used to describe me as a woman mayor is objectionable.”
The BJP meanwhile claimed that people having links with the Shiv Sena morphed Shelar’s video and deliberately made it seem as if he was insulting the mayor.
Bhalchandra Shirsat, BJP spokesperson in the BMC, said, “We have filed a police complaint in the matter considering what Shelar has said is there on Youtube. He has used the term ‘sleeping’ for the system and not for the mayor. But a few people have morphed the video, thereby insulting the mayor. On Wednesday, we are also going to visit the state women’s commission office to complain regarding the same.”