The fissures between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party were thrown into sharp relief once again, with both parties clashing over the BJP’s Narayan Rane slapgate issue. The Sena pressed for Rane’s arrest over his remark, while BJP claimed there seemed to be an inordinate and unconstitutional hurry to arrest the minister. Stone pelting and scuffles marked clashes on a tumultuous Tuesday. Prasad Lad, BJP vice-president-Maharashtra unit, was at the forefront talking about how Rane was manhandled by the police while he was having lunch. The bigger picture though is tensions between the former allies turned enemies are at boiling point and we may see dangerous escalation as the BMC elections slated for February 2022 near. An interview with Prasad Lad:

With the BMC polls coming up, we see ‘projects’ being announced in overdrive. What will be BJP’s core area?
We will concentrate on development. What have we seen for the past 25 years? The failure of the BMC on many counts, see the flooding in the city. There were many crores for the clean-up of the Mithi river. What has happened to that money? How many hospitals have been opened since the past three years? We saw at least six hospitals sanctioned in former CM Devendra Fadnavis’s tenure.