Following high drama in BMC budget discussion, mayor announces live telecast of house proceedings

Although the BMC had been working on live-telecasting the proceedings for some time, its official announcement to stream them on YouTube was allegedly expedited after a significant uproar at the general body meeting over alleged remarks on Bal Thackeray made by opposition leader Kishori Pednekar on Thursday

MUMBAI: Mayor Ritu Tawde on Thursday announced that general body meetings would be telecast live on the BMC’s YouTube channel, @MyBMCMyMumbai. She said that this would help citizens see how their elected representatives raised issues in the civic body.

BMC headquarters (Hindustan Times)

Although the BMC had been working on live-telecasting the proceedings for some time, its official announcement to stream them on YouTube was allegedly expedited after a significant uproar at the general body meeting over alleged remarks on Bal Thackeray made by opposition leader Kishori Pednekar on Thursday.

Pednekar made these remarks while speaking on a point of order raised by former mayor Vishakha Raut about the lack of protocol to honour the mayor in public functions. She was reportedly referring to the funeral of Asha Bhosle, which was organised by the BMC, but where she was seated in the second row.

The discussion spun off into a tangent where Pednekar questioned if they (the ruling allies) had bought over Bal Thackeray’s values; the Sena founder’s “sanskaar” was inherent in members of her party, the Shiv Sena (UBT), she said, allegedly taking a dig at the ruling Shiv Sena, a splinter of Bal Thackeray’s party which is fighting to claim his political legacy. Her remarks, however, were “interpreted” by the ruling parties as an “insult” to Thackeray himself.

The mayor accosted Pednekar, saying they had heard her say that they (the ruling allies) had bought over Bal Thackeray. Ganesh Khankar, the BJP leader of the house, promptly demanded an apology from Pednekar, and subsequently sought her suspension under Rule 36A of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. Pednekar claimed that she meant that Thackeray’s thoughts could not be bought, not Bal Thackeray himself.

The proceedings of the BMC general body meeting were disrupted, with the mayor adjourning it multiple times to demand an apology from Pedekar. Pednekar even walked out of the meeting and returned after some time but refused to apologise, claiming she had never made such statements. Finally, the meeting was adjourned after standing committee chairperson Prabhakar Shinde moved a motion to adjourn.

Both the Shiv Sena and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are currently fighting to claim Bal Thackeray’s legacy, and these comments were made during the ongoing discussions on the BMC budget of 2026-27. Opposition corporators have been upset with the low fund allocations in this budget, and such episodes of friction are viewed as a strategy to delay the budget, which is meant to wrap up by the end of April.