ULHASNAGAR: The BJP on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to one of its office-bearers after party workers removed the photograph of former corporator Mahesh Sukhramani from the Ulhasnagar party office, threw it outside, and smeared it with black ink. The act, carried out in protest after Sukhramani’s defection, triggered strong political reactions and exposed growing unrest within the BJP’s local unit ahead of the upcoming civic elections.Sukhramani, once considered a prominent face of the BJP in Ulhasnagar, was among six former corporators who recently left the party to join the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and its local ally Team Omie Kalani (TOK). His departure, viewed as a setback for the BJP, angered several workers who labelled his exit a “betrayal.”
Following the incident, the four leaders who joined TOK — Mahesh Sukhramani, Jamnu Puruswani, Prakash Makhija, and Ram Parwani — held a press conference sharply criticising the BJP workers’ behaviour. They said that after years of working to strengthen the BJP in the city, they were forced to leave due to internal neglect. They questioned whether disrespecting photos of leaders who exit the party was now acceptable conduct in the BJP. “Has democracy ended in the BJP party?” asked Makhija.Reacting to the controversy, BJP’s Ulhasnagar district president Rajesh Vadhrya expressed regret over the incident. He acknowledged the contributions of the former corporators and confirmed that Sukhramani’s photo had been reinstated in the party office. Vadhrya added that a show cause notice has been issued to the worker responsible, emphasizing that such actions do not reflect the values or discipline of the BJP.
