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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

SS MP threatens to ‘bomb’ political opponents

Journalists staged a protest outside Balasaheb Bhavan against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Dina Patil, condemning his alleged remarks against members of the media. Pic: Bhushan Koyande Mumbai: Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina-Patil – who recently defected to the ruling ally Shiv Sena apparently went haywire on Thursday, hurling bomb threats at political opponents, spitting expletives at protestors, warning jounos of assault and warning anybody “to do whatever you can”, sparking a massive political...

SS MP threatens to ‘bomb’ political opponents

Journalists staged a protest outside Balasaheb Bhavan against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Dina Patil, condemning his alleged remarks against members of the media. Pic: Bhushan Koyande Mumbai: Mumbai North-East MP Sanjay Dina-Patil – who recently defected to the ruling ally Shiv Sena apparently went haywire on Thursday, hurling bomb threats at political opponents, spitting expletives at protestors, warning jounos of assault and warning anybody “to do whatever you can”, sparking a massive political furore. Elected on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket, Dina-Patil lost his temper when he was questioned on his daughter and SS (UBT) Municipal Corporator Rajool Patil who went to meet ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray to express her allegiance despite her father’s defection to the Shiv Sena led by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Instead of replying, Dina-Patil, reported to be short-tempered, blew his top and reacted aggressively with abuses: “Record this on camera… I have spoken to you for 2 minutes, I respect you, you should do the same… Don’t mess with me. If you return here, I will thrash and send you back. I am saying this in front of the police, you do whatever you want.” Just a couple of days ago, Dina-Patil had threatened SS (UBT) workers protesting against him. “Anybody who tries to cross my path, I will send them to the crematorium or the hospital. We have committed five murders in the past. If you protest against me, I will throw bombs on you and enter your house to hammer you.” As these threats and unparliamentary language stoked a massive political row, SS (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut shot off a letter to Mumbai Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti, demanding that the police probe all the statements of Dina-Patil and ‘book him for murder’. On the alleged bomb threats, Raut said if Dina-Patil had acquired the explosives from some terrorist organisation, he should be arrested under the dreaded Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, dealing with terrorism, terming it as a matter of national security. Political Explosion The matter escalated into a full-fledged political brawl with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders like Congress’ Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar; SS (UBT)’s Aditya Thackeray, Sunil Raut, Sushma Andhare; Nationalist Congress Party (SP)’s Supriya Sule, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Jayant R. Patil, and many more, attacking Dina-Patil and demanding that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must act in the matter. Aditya challenged Dina-Patil to instantly quit as MP, recontest in the name of Shinde or PM Narendra Modi and then see the outcome. Andhare said till the MPs were with SS (UBT), they were cultured but after walking over to the Shiv Sena, they have lost all their etiquettes or fear of the laws. Faced with an embarrassing backlash, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Shiv Sena’s Omprakash Babarao alias Bachhu Kadu quickly tendered unconditional apologies to the media on behalf of Dina-Patil, while Minister Girish Mahajan attempted to equate the outburst with recent strong language used by Sanjay Raut, who had said that “Shinde has given birth to 6 traitors”. On Raut’s letter to the CoP, a defiant Dina-Patil declared: “Whatever I said, I did it openly. If the police feel any action is to be taken against me, I am ready to face the consequences.” He again slammed the media persons for "thrusting microphones at him”, going to the ‘other side’ (the MVA) and then returning to quiz him, prompting the TV Journalists Association and other media groups to protest and seek action against the belligerent MP. “Has the MP been provided (Y-Plus) security at public expense to threaten the media which is doing its duty or the political protesters?” asked an irate TV reporter. Dina-Patil launched a broadside against the MVA and dared those who dubbed him a ‘traitor’ to come to his constituency without any security. On the incident of five murders, he airily said: “It had happened before I was born”, but Raut retorted claiming to possess details of all those alleged killings. “I don’t need an entourage of 10 vehicles as I rule the hearts of the people. I have aligned myself with ‘real men’. Shinde Saheb has commended me for my stand,” he claimed. Fadnavis and Shinde commented briefly on the matter and later were closeted in a meeting to discuss the fallout of Dina-Patil’s utterances especially after the media launched strong protests in different parts of Mumbai.

The great survivor!

Ganesh Naik

Ganesh Naik is a great survivor literally and figuratively. Recently at an election rally, he said that ‘all his rivals are dead’. That is very true literally. Nevertheless, Naik has also shown great agility and has survived politically.


Born in the Bonkode village of Navi Mumbai on September 15, 1950 Ganesh Ramchandra Naik started off in the life as a union leader. Initially he led workers from some of the prominent factories in the TTC industrial belt. As the union grew and spread to other industrial belts across Raigad and Thane districts, he started wielding political power. The planned city of Navi Mumbai was in making which lifted him straight from the village panchayat level to the state assembly. Shiv Sena was the most popular party among the youth back then. So, he became the Shiv Sena MLA in 1990 and also became the leader of the party in the house after rebellion of 11 MLAs under the leadership of Chhagan Bhujbal.


However, his rivals within the party made him leave Shiv Sena in 1999 though he was a minister and showed a great command on the administration. He lost the assembly election. But, after a brief period when he floated his own party, he joined NCP and was inducted into the state cabinet. After sensing that he has no future in NCP, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019. However, before that he had developed a strong hold over the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), the two assembly constituencies in the city and the Lok Sabha constituency that extends from Navi Mumbai to Mira-Bhayandar. Naik family members occupied all the key posts of public representative from this region between 2000 and 2014.


Despite such a long and successful career, Naik faced controversies. He has been accused of cheating in two cases, and a woman claiming to be his live-in partner filed a more recent case of rape against him. The high court later quashed the case, and the complainant changed her statement, alleging that the case was politically motivated. But, the blot remains.


When he joined the BJP in 2019, his arch-rival Manda Mhatre had already been an MLA from the constituency that he had been being elected from. He had to leave the seat for her and he contested from his son’s constituency, Airoli. His elder son too didn’t get to contest Lok Sabha and his nephew couldn’t become Mayor of the city again. He still stayed with the BJP, but his son Sandeep, who was district BJP president, quit and is contesting from Belapur constituency as NCP(SP) candidate. Many feel that this is marks Naik’s backward journey to Sharad Pawar who had helped him stand again after being dejected by the Shiv Sena. Naik’s political journey has been marked by his ability to bounce back from setbacks.

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