Nashik, May 3: The walls of the mayoral bungalow here are resounding to the war cry of local Shiv Sena leaders, with their bickering centering around the colour of its interiors and the photographs which used to adorn them.The dispute, however, has everything to do with groupism, inflated egos and personal agendas rather than Mayor Ashok Dive's aesthetic preferences.One group, which enjoys the patronage of Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap and is led by the party's city president Datta Gaikwad, has condemned Dive for allegedly showing party chief Bal Thackeray disrespect; while the other faction, led by former Sena MP and Gholap's arch rival, Rajabhau Godse, has jumped to the mayor's defence.Godse has accused the Gaikwad camp of embarking on a smear campaign against the mayor though his wrath stems from his resentment towards Gholap, whom he blames for his defeat during the recent Lok Sabha elections.The Gaikwad faction, on the other hand, is using the mayor as a bait to manipulate Godse'sfeelings.Dive was dragged into the vortex of the factional war last week, when he took down pictures of Thackeray from the walls of his bungalow. Though he explained that this was done to facilitate renovation work, the Gaikwad group staged rasta rokos in various parts of the city alleging that he was biased against their leader.They were also incensed with Dive for hanging up photographs of Dalit leader Dr BR Ambedkar and the mayor's earlier decision to welcome Congress president Sonia Gandhi to the city on May 6.Dive coincidentally chose to paint the walls of his residence blue (also the Republican Party of India colour), inadvertently stoking the raging controversy. Giving the row a casteist hue, an indignant Godse charged the protestors with screaming blue murder against Dive for being a Dalit. Dive, an RPI corporator, was installed as mayor by the Sena-BJP alliance only a month ago, and his recent actions are being interpreted as a rebuff to the ruling combine.The protests began after ameeting at Dive's residence on April 18, when some Sena corporators noticed the change in the bungalow's interior decoration. Seething for about 10 days, the Sainiks erupted in open protest on April 29, led by Gaikwad and deputy chief of the district Sena unit Sunil Bagul.The latter, also from Gholap's camp, had invited the wrath of Nashik's industrialists following allegations of extortion about a year ago. Bagul was also appointed by Gholap on a committee set up to maintain peace in the industrial areas in and around Nashik in the wake of labour unrest and an outbreak of violence. Some industrialists had complained to Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and urged him to get Bagul removed from the panel.The Gholap camp is also angry with Dive following the removal of photographs of Bal Thackeray from the budget booklets. However, the mayor later clarified that the booklets were prepared by the Standing Committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and he had no say in the matter.Calling theprotestor's bluff, it was pointed out that the committee's chairperson is a Congressman.Now, as the war of attrition rages on, Dive finds himself in an extremely delicate situation. His survival as the city's first citizen depends on the saffron combine's patronage, after all.
