KDMC Standing Committee Meeting Adjourned Over Removal Of PM Modi Photo

The political controversy over the removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph at a college in Pune by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers spilled over into the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on Wednesday, resulting in the standing committee meeting being adjourned for 10 minutes in Kalyan.

The protest inside the civic body came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) warned that it would withdraw from the Mahayuti alliance within the municipal corporation. The party cautioned that it would sit in the Opposition if the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) failed to sever its alliance with the MNS.

During Wednesday’s standing committee session, BJP members Mandar Halbe and Dipesh Mhatre raised the issue and demanded that the civic meeting be adjourned for the entire day as a formal mark of protest against the Pune college incident.

However, standing committee chairman Mallesh Shetty opposed the call for a complete shutdown of business. Shetty stated that the civic meeting could not be adjourned for the full day.

Following the disagreement, Shiv Sena (Shinde) member Vikas Mhatre intervened and suggested that the proceedings be adjourned for only 10 minutes. Taking that suggestion into consideration, chairman Shetty officially adjourned the meeting for 10 minutes.

Immediately after the brief adjournment, Halbe and Mhatre spoke to reporters outside the committee hall. The BJP members stated that they had received support for their demand from Shiv Sena member Vikas Mhatre and MNS member Ganesh Landge, which led to the meeting being adjourned briefly.