Fights and disagreements between senior Shiv Sena leaders leading to delay in taking decisions during committee meetings
Ramesh Korgaonkar
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'Delay' and 'civic body' have become synonymous, be it lateness in projects, development, redevelopment or something else. Now, joining the list is delay in taking decisions during committee meetings. But the reason is infighting between senior leaders of the party running the country's richest municipal corporation.
The disquiet within
Lack of communication and coordination has been leading to arguments between senior Shiv Sena leaders, leaving party's corporators confused on whose orders to follow.
While earlier it was the corporators being irked with Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar for not giving them a chance to speak in the general body meetings, the latest row was between Yashwant Jadhav and Ramesh Korgaonkar last week after the standing committee meeting. Sources revealed that despite it being decided that the Sena would oppose Congress's demand for adjourning the meeting, Jadhav, instead of strongly backing his party, made a statement that was neither here nor there, leading to the meeting getting adjourned. An upset Korgaonkar, standing committee chairman, had then had a heated argument with Jadhav over the issue.
Yashwant Jadhav
A senior civic official said, "The Congress had demanded adjournment over less work done on nullah cleaning before the monsoon, and the Sena had decided to oppose it. However, during the meeting, when the Sena group leader was asked to speak, he opined that the work was half done. As there was no clear opposition to Congress's demand, the meeting was adjourned and several decisions on the agenda delayed."
This is not the first time that Jadhav has been involved in a spat; earlier, the mayor and Jadhav had had issues over fixing a date of a general body meeting.
While the issues themselves don't seem big, the senior lot in the civic body, comprising former mayors and former committee chairmen, has been feeling sidelined, and as a result, no one looking towards resolving the issues.
Who's the boss?
Sources said chairmen of other special committees in the civic body, such as the market and gardens committee, and health committee, have been asked by the Sena group leader to report to him after visiting their respective work areas on a weekly basis, something that has not gone down well with the chairmen.
A senior Sena leader said, "There is absolutely no coordination among the decision makers, which is affecting party's growth."
While Korgaonkar was not available for comment, Jadhav denied any differences and said there was no problem among the party leaders.