Mumbai will get Mahayuti mayor: Eknath Shinde; 'People chose development over emotional issues'
Mumbai (PTI): Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Sunday after interacting with newly-elected Shiv Sena members of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), who have been shifted to a hotel.
Shinde’s assertion comes amid speculation over the decision to move 29 corporators-designate of his party to a hotel after the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance secured a narrow majority in the recent civic polls.
Taking a dig at Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Shinde said voters had chosen development over emotional issues.
"Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor. Even neighbouring cities like Kalyan-Dombivli will have a Mahayuti mayor," he told reporters.
Rejecting allegations that the corporators were being kept under watch at a luxury hotel, Shinde said the Shiv Sena was fearless.
"The new corporators will get a common platform to interact at the hotel. I wanted to meet them as we are registering the group of 29 corporators with the Konkan divisional commissioner," he said.
Amid speculation in political circles over Shiv Sena's stand vis-a-vis the next mayor of Mumbai, party leader and minister Uday Samant said the civic body polls were contested as the Mahayuti alliance.
"The Shiv Sena will not do what the earlier Shiv Sena (headed by Uddhav Thackeray when he allied with the Congress after the 2019 polls) did," he said.
When asked about demands from within the party for the mayor’s post, Samant said, "Every party wants the main post, and Bal Thackeray's (birth) centenary year gives that demand a different dimension."
In a swipe at the Opposition, Samant said many corporators will become not-reachable, and people will realise which party they belonged to.
Addressing the newly elected members, Shinde said people had rejected the Shiv Sena (UBT) and urged them to utilise the opportunity to serve citizens.
He asked them to prepare ward-specific development action plans and ensure that their wards become model constituencies. Shinde also cautioned them against any conduct that could tarnish the party’s image.
"People have rejected the Shiv Sena (UBT) and those who oppose development," he said.
Shinde noted that the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the civic polls, followed by the Shiv Sena, calling the results a precursor to the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.
In the recently concluded civic polls, the alliance of the BJP and Shinde-led Sena won a clear majority in the 227-member BMC, securing 89 and 29 seats, respectively. The Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, while its ally MNS emerged victorious on six.
Shinde further appealed to newly-elected Sena members to follow up on schemes like 'pagdi-free Mumbai', which refers to a plan to overhaul the old, problematic pagdi (tenant-ownership) system, aiming to clear stuck redevelopments.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
