Maharashtra
Bhiwandi Mayor Election: Major Political Twist As Congress Backs BJP Rebel, Secular Front Realigns
Bhiwandi: The mayoral election of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation is set to be held on Friday, February 20, but the political equations in the civic body have witnessed a major shake-up even before voting begins.
A day after a breakaway group of nine corporators from the Bharatiya Janata Party extended support to the Congress-led Bhiwandi Secular Front, the Indian National Congress on Thursday announced that the Samajwadi Party is no longer part of the front, as it has decided to align with Shiv Sena.
Congress has now decided to field BJP rebel corporator Narayan Chaudhary as its official candidate for the mayor’s post. The party has issued a whip directing all its corporators to vote in his favour. Congress group leader Tariq Momin has been nominated as the deputy mayor candidate.
The developments have added a dramatic twist to the Bhiwandi civic polls, where no single party has a clear majority. In the 90-member BNMC elections held on January 15, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 30 seats, followed by BJP with 22 seats, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) with 12 seats and SP with six seats. Smaller parties and one independent account for the remaining seats.
With the majority mark set at 46, Congress had earlier formed the Bhiwandi Secular Front along with NCP (SP) and SP, taking the alliance tally to 48. However, cracks emerged when SP staked its claim to the mayor’s post, eventually leading to its exit from the front.
With the backing of nine BJP corporators, Congress now claims the support of 51 members, enough to comfortably elect its mayor without SP’s support. Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said this was a major setback for BJP and asserted that all nine corporators had quit the BJP and its ideology.
“This will be the second municipal corporation where Congress will elect a mayor, after Latur,” Sapkal said, calling it a morale boost after the party recently lost the Chandrapur mayoral election.
However, the move has triggered dissent within the local Congress unit, with several leaders opposing the decision to back a former BJP corporator. Meanwhile, SP’s Maharashtra president Abu Asim Azmi questioned Congress’s claim of leading a ‘secular front’, pointing out that the mayoral candidate had originally won on a BJP ticket.
As intense lobbying, counter-claims and allegations of poaching continue, all eyes are now on who will ultimately secure the mayor’s chair in Bhiwandi amid rapidly shifting political alliances.
Maharashtra
Mira Road C-Queen Palace Orchestra Bar raided, 12 women recovered, 9 arrested

A team led by DCP Rahul Chavan of Mira Road Police Commissionerate, Circle 1, raided the Sea Queen Palace Orchestra Bar in front of Daraz Dhaba on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway under the limits of Kashigaon Police Station on Mira Road. During the raid, the police rescued 12 women. A cashier and 8 waiters were arrested, including the driver, owner and manager of the bar who are absconding. During the raid, Rs 50,000 in cash was seized. Along with this, illegal stocks of whiskey and beer were seized. Further investigation is underway in the case. It is said that an illegal dance and entertainment party was going on in the bar. During this, the police raided and arrested the accused and also released 12 dancers.
Crime
KEM Hospital student Sejal Pawar submits written apology after viral remarks on cadavers

Mumbai, June 12: Sejal Pawar, a medical student at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, has submitted a written apology to the institution after a video of her making controversial remarks about cadavers went viral on social media, triggering widespread criticism and legal action.
Hospital sources said senior doctors were deeply upset by Pawar’s comments, particularly because cadavers are voluntarily donated for medical education and are regarded with the utmost respect by the medical fraternity.
According to hospital authorities, Pawar has not been suspended, and no disciplinary action, such as suspension, has been taken against her so far. However, officials indicated that while the institution does not intend to be excessively harsh, it will deal with the matter seriously.
The senior doctors of the hospital have told her that her statement on social media has hurt them a lot, sources said, adding that the issue concerns the dignity accorded to body donors who make medical education possible.
Pawar, who hails from Pune, came under intense scrutiny after a video clip from a public programme went viral online. In the clip, she allegedly made objectionable remarks related to the private parts of cadavers while discussing a sensitive medical education topic in a light-hearted manner.
The controversy prompted strong backlash on social media and led to the registration of an FIR against her. Maharashtra Cyber Police has also initiated action in the matter.
Taking cognisance of the incident, KEM Hospital ordered an internal inquiry and constituted a committee to examine the issue. The hospital administration directed the panel to submit its report at the earliest.
Amid mounting criticism and institutional scrutiny, earlier, Pawar issued a public apology through a detailed post on Instagram.
“Recently, a video clip of mine has gone viral on social media. After watching the video again, I realised how much my words hurt people’s sentiments,” she said in a video post.
She acknowledged that the subject she spoke about was highly sensitive and said she never intended to offend anyone.
“I am not going to justify it, never going to take the wrong side. I wanted to come here and make a public apology. I take full responsibility for my mistake,” she said.
Calling the episode a major learning experience, Pawar added that as a student, she had learned an important lesson and would ensure that such an incident is never repeated in the future.
The hospital’s inquiry report is awaited, while authorities continue to examine the circumstances surrounding the viral video and its impact on public sentiment and medical ethics.
Maharashtra
Politics has become trade of self-interest amid rising market of plate-hopping politicians: Shiv Sena(UBT) in ‘Saamana’

Mumbai, June 12: Amid several MPs and legislators deserting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after the party’s rout in the recently held state Assembly polls, the Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday claimed that politics in the country has degenerated into a mere trade of self-interest.
It said that the voters cast their ballots based on a specific party symbol and ideology, expecting representation, only for self-serving political opportunists “to immediately jump from one plate to another for personal gain”. Much like the nursery rhyme ‘Hop along, little pumpkin’, these opportunistic politicians and their leaders hop all the way to Delhi.
The Thackeray camp, in an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Saamana’, argued that just as various varieties of grapes and mangoes have been developed, new breeds of these volatile politicians have now emerged — and leading the pack is the ‘Saayoni Ghosh’ variety, a seed that will undoubtedly become famous as ‘Saayoni Seeds’.
The editorial stated that many are left wondering how to deal with characters like Saayoni Ghosh. “During the West Bengal Assembly election campaign, Ghosh made a name for herself with her sharp, fiery speeches. She crafted an image as a “mini-Mamata”, ripping into the BJP at every rally and proclaiming Mamata Banerjee as her mother figure. Consequently, when cracks began to appear in the Trinamool Congress parliamentary ranks, few expected her name to be on that list,” it added.
The editorial further stated, with fortunes shifting at Mamata’s camp, Saayoni Ghosh has abandoned her “mother figure” and the Trinamool Congress “to park her horse firmly inside the BJP stable. While the defecting TMC MPs have formed an independent group for now, they are bound to merge with the BJP sooner rather than later”.
According to the editorial, the irony is stark. “When Raghav Chadha, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP, abandoned his party to join the BJP, Ghosh had expressed immense fury over his betrayal. She lamented the complete loss of loyalty and morality in modern politics. When asked back then if she too would eventually defect to the BJP, an enraged Ghosh had snapped: ‘I am Ghosh, not Chadha, who would turn into a pair of shorts’. Today, however, she has metaphorically become that very entity, casting off her cloak of honesty to join the ranks of those dancing to the ruling party’s tunes,” it said.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena observed that unbridled ambition and betrayal turn politicians into “an eggplant on a plate – a turncoat.”
“This is no longer just an idiom; it has become the bitter reality of contemporary Indian politics. A turncoat politician, like an eggplant, can be mixed into any dish on the stove – from bharit (mashed eggplant) to bhajiyas (fritters); it possesses no distinct flavour of its own,” it commented.
The editorial said that Maharashtra’s political landscape has recently witnessed a bumper crop of such turncoat politicians, and their cultivation is being thoroughly nurtured. “The case of Saayoni Ghosh serves as an ideal case study. These ‘plate-hopping’ politicians change colours faster than chameleons – a phenomenon so rampant it could warrant a PhD research study. The style of opportunistic politics has flourished so heavily that everyone seems to want to become a turncoat. This marks a severe degradation of the country’s politics and ideology,” it noted.
“Ultimately, these politicians have become cheap and universally available commodities. Lacking an inherent spine or flavour, they soften and wilt the moment they are exposed to political pressure. They can no longer be trusted,” said the editorial.
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