Sena men turn Mayor’s office topsy-turvy

Ulhasnagar witnessed a new low in politics on Monday when Shiv Sena corporators barged into the Mayor's office and ransacked it. Mayor Asha Idnani of the Sai Party could only stand by and watch as her deputy, Jamnu Purswani, of the BJP, was manhandled.

Also roughed up was Kumar Ailani, a local MLA of the BJP. The mob also damaged the official car of the Mayor.

The Shiv Sena, which is in a grand alliance with the Sai Party, the BJP, the RPI and the BSP, was upset that Idnani was not relinquishing the Mayor's post after one year and making way for its candidate as was agreed upon.

Idnani's one-year term ended on June 4 but she was reluctant to step down. Her deputy too was to relinquish his post on July 4 but had not done so, saying that he would quit after the Mayor did so.

Kumar was targeted, as his wife Meena (of the BJP) is the chairperson of the civic standing committee. The Shiv Sena felt cheated as the Sai Pary and the BJP did not honour the agreement. Besides, it was felt that members of the Sindhi community were holding all the three important posts.

Thane district in-charge of the Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde, and Kalysn district chief Gopal Landge asked Idnani and her husband, Jeevan, several times to honour the commitment. However, the duo refused to meet the Sena leaders.

Following this, Sena members had warned that they would not allow the house to work till the Mayor resigned. In defiance, the Mayor

called a general body meeting on Monday. Angered by this, Sena members ransacked her office and disrupted the proceedings in the house. Sena workers also roughed up policemen on security duty in the civic headquarters. Sources said that the cops had intelligence input that the Sena would create a ruckus but no precautions were taken. In fact, the cops fled when the Mayor's office was being turned upside down. The MLA was roughed up right in front of the cops. Women corporators of the Shiv Sena did not even wait for the national anthem to end before they started abusing the Mayor.