"The Mayor caught her hand and twisted it. She was only trying to talk about the problems of the area but he manhandled her, threatening her. Now he is lying and claiming he is innocent. But it's all on record," said a woman who witnessed the scuffle in which Mumbai's first citizen, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, allegedly assaulted a woman. DNA had reported on Wednesday how the Mayor, a three-time corporator from Santacruz (East), went to visit his ward a day after the electrocution of a woman and her 20-year-old son, but ended up at the centre of a controversy. A video of the commotion, which took place on Monday, quickly went viral. It shows the mayor arguing aggressively and manhandling a woman. Residents of Patel Nagar, where the spectacle played out, told DNA they not only want that the mayor should resign but also for the police to book him for assaulting a woman, a sentiment echoed by the Opposition parties. For his part, the mayor, belonging to the Shiv Sena which rules the BMC, professed his innocence to DNA: "It's a false allegation. I didn't touch any woman. I belong to this area and I respect women. The mother-son duo whose family I wanted to visit had died of electrocution. But the agitated women were diverting the issue to waterlogging. I told them I had come to meet the family. But they were not listening to me," he said. But a local woman said, "He shows up when someone dies to grab free publicity." Above hesitant murmurs from within his own party can be heard stentorian demands from an incensed opposition asserting that Mahadeshwar resign from the post. viral past June 2017: Audio surfaces in which mayor is allegedly heard threatening a civic official for removing 17 illegal stalls in Khar June 2019: Mayor allegedly abuse and assault a BMC engineer. A complaint reached BMC chief’s office but mayor denied it Corporators from Congress and NCP remarked it was curious that the occupant of a post so ceremonial with such little executive powers can kick up such a ruckus. They further said it was infuriating that Shiv Sena has not acted against him despite a slew of allegations of misdemeanour to his name. "Is he the first citizen or a first category goon? Drunk on power! Such behaviour with a woman cannot be accepted. If Shiv Sena does not ask him to quit, it is condoning his actions," said Nawab Malik, NCP's Mumbai chief. Congress MLA from Dharavi Varsha Gaikwad, a former state minister, took to Twitter to denounce the incident. "I condemn the behaviour of Shiv Sena's Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar towards a woman." "Sena, which once created ranraginis (feisty women), is now turning on them," said MNS general secretary Sandeep Deshpande. "Mahadeshwar must resign. He has no moral standing to occupy a mayoral chair." "The opposition parties must not allow him to preside over the civic body's meetings for even a minute," said Deshpande, whose MNS has seen six of its seven corporators defect to Shiv Sena. Deshpande laughed off Mahadeshwar's claim that the people heckling him in Santacruz on Monday were MNS activists. "Suppose they were MNS workers, does this justify his act of wringing her hand?" he said. A Shiv Sena corporator tried to defend the mayor with this insight: "The position is such that anything its occupant says may lead to a controversy." The corporator said evidence that Mahadeshwar had wrung a woman's hand was weak. "He was a teacher before he entered politics. He is otherwise a level-headed man," he said, conceding, however, that such controversies give the party and the civic authority bad press. In July, it was reported that the Mayor had parked his car under a no-parking signboard outside an eatery in Vile Parle. An e-challan was issued against the vehicle later.

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