November 19: Lewd gestures, pungent expletives and corportars on the run. Such is the rough and tumble of local politics. The provocation for the histrionics at the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) on Thursday was an obscene gesture made by Shiv Sena corporator Avinash Panchal at women corporators from the Opposition Congress, who were vehemently opposing a proposal to foot a Rs 2 lakh bill for a tennis tournament.Political differences soon melted as women from the ruling Sena joined their Congress counterparts and chased Panchal out of the corporation hall, into the mayor's ante-chamber and eventually right off the premises.The General Body had met on Thursday to ratify a recommendation of the Standing Committee to give Rs 2 lakh from the KDMC to the Maharashtra Table Tennis Association. The association, whose president is senior Sena leader and MP Satish Pradhan, had organised a tennis tournament at Dombivli on November 1 and was now seeking `reimbursement' from the KDMC coffers.Theelaborate affair was hosted by the local Sena unit, which was keen to make it a grand success since former chief minsiter Narayan Rane and Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray were among the invitees.However, during the General Body meeting on Thursday, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party expressed reluctance to part with the funds while the Congress was extremely vociferous. When the recommendation was put to a vote, the Congress staged a walkout. That was when the meeting turned into the theatre of the absurd.As the corporators marched out, Panchal made a lewd gesture at the women. When they returned, Rekha Gajabe (Cong) rose to speak. ``A man who has such scant regard for women should not be allowed to continute in this House. He should be thrown out forthwith,'' she told the mayor, supported by her colleague Sharada Patil. Mayor Sadhu Samant (Sena) promptly said he would inquire into the incident.However, far from appeased, Patil and Gajabe began to verbally attack Panchal. Sensing the ugly mood,Panchal literally took to his heels. Close behind were Uday Samel (Ind) and Kiran Samel (Ind), who locked Panchal in the ante-chamber of the mayor's cabin. A split second later, Patil and Gajabe emerged from the other end of the corporation hall and ran towards the cabin. While Kaka Mandale (Sena) and the Samel brothers managed to stall Patil near the lobby, Gajabe pushed them aside and went into the cabin to look for Panchal. ``Aaj tya haramkhorala jhodunach kaadnaar me! Tyaal kai aai-bahini nahit ka? (I am going to thrash that goonda at any cost! Doesn't he have a mother or sister?),'' she yelled in the lobby, arms flailing. Soon, women corporators from the BJP and even a few from the Sena came out to support her. Then they went into a huddle.Sensing that the seige on the mayor's cabin had been lifted, Panchal was told to make good his escape. In his hurry, he stumbled twice on the staricase as he kept looking over his shoulder to see if the women were following him. Then he fled thepremises.When the women returned, they discovered to their dismay that thier quarry was missing. ``We shall not let him get off so easily. He cannot hide forever,'' warned Gajabe.As the endless debate over 33 per cent reservation for women in state legislatures and Parliament continues, corporators in the KDMC couldn't make a better case for women's empowerment.
