‘Sidelined’ deputy mayor hits the ground in L Ward

Ghadi began his own round of visits after not being invited to the mayor’s inspections earlier this week. “Such important civic works were traditionally inspected jointly by the mayor and deputy mayor. Corporators, deputy municipal commissioners and even officials are informed, but we were not,” he said

MUMBAI: Deputy mayor Sanjay Ghadi inspected L Ward for pre-monsoon preparedness on Thursday, an exercise aimed more at hitting back at mayor Ritu Tawde than checking to see whether the area was ready for the monsoon’s onslaught.

‘Sidelined’ deputy mayor hits the ground in L Ward

Ghadi began his own round of visits after not being invited to the mayor’s inspections earlier this week. “Such important civic works were traditionally inspected jointly by the mayor and deputy mayor. Corporators, deputy municipal commissioners and even officials are informed, but we were not,” he said.

This is not the first time Ghadi has felt sidelined. After an earlier alleged protocol breach left him fuming, he decided to speak up. On “Tawde’s style of functioning”, he said “People believe everyone is not being taken along.”

Ghadi, a Shiv Sena corporator, said the issue reflected lack of coordination within the partners in the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the BMC. “We wanted everyone to come together and work for the betterment of Mumbai. Starting the inspections jointly would have sent a strong message,” he said.

The deputy mayor also referred to an earlier protocol controversy during the launch of the BMC’s ‘Mumbai Clean League’ initiative at the civic headquarters on March 17. Following the event, Shiv Sena group leader Amey Ghole wrote to the municipal commissioner, alleging that despite the mayor’s absence, Ghadi had to sit fourth in the row during the programme attended by actor Akshay Kumar and senior political leaders.

BJP group leader and leader of the house in the BMC, Ganesh Khankar, denied any breach of protocol. Referring to the March 17 event, Khankar said BJP leader Ameet Satam, who was seated ahead of Ghadi, was given that position because he was the leader of the Mumbai BJP unit.

On the current round of inspections, Khankar said Tawde wanted to decentralise visits across wards so that senior leaders could simultaneously monitor monsoon preparedness work across the city. “The idea was to divide responsibilities so that inspections take place across the city and the work gets completed efficiently. After May 12, all corporators have been asked to provide daily updates. The issue of not being invited should not be blown out of proportion,” he said.

Tawde was unavailable for comment.