Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray downplayed Sachin Ahir’s defection, stating his party is unfazed by leaders leaving.

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday sought to downplay senior MLC Sachin Ahir’s defection to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, saying his party was no longer surprised by leaders leaving despite being given key positions over the years.Claiming that the latest political developments had revived talk of “Operation Tiger”, Aaditya said the operation currently underway was not “Operation Tiger” but “Operation Devendra Fadnavis.”His remarks came hours after Ahir joined the Shinde camp and filed his nomination as the Mahayuti alliance’s candidate for the post of deputy chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.Reacting to Ahir’s exit, Aaditya said Shiv Sena (UBT) had witnessed similar defections over the past four years and had continued to remain strong.“For the last four years, we have seen that even those who were close to us and received everything eventually left. So we do not consider this a shock,” he said.Referring to Ahir’s long association with the party, Aaditya questioned what more could have been offered to him, saying he had been accommodated in several important positions, including through the workers’ organisation and civic bodies.“He was brought into the ward committee through the NGO quota, his brother was given a position in the BEST committee, and he himself was entrusted with several responsibilities in the workers’ organisation. How much more could we have done?” Aaditya asked.The former Maharashtra minister also asserted that Worli would remain a Shiv Sena bastion despite Ahir’s departure.“Worli is the stronghold of Shiv Sena and it will continue to remain so. No one is shocked by people coming and going,” he said.Aaditya alleged that while “Operation Tiger” was once again being discussed after Ahir’s switch, the real political exercise underway was “Operation Devendra Fadnavis”, aimed at weakening the chief minister’s position within the BJP.“What is happening now is not ‘Operation Tiger’ but ‘Operation Devendra Fadnavis’. If a Marathi leader is emerging as a possible Prime Ministerial face, efforts are being made to clip his wings. This could be Devendra Fadnavis’ last term as chief minister, after which he may be shifted to the Union Cabinet,” Aaditya claimed.Stepping up his attack on the BJP, Aaditya alleged that the ruling party faced a major political challenge in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.“The 2029 election poses a massive challenge for the BJP. The very BJP that undertook a Rath Yatra over the Ram Mandir issue is today engaging in land theft and scams in Ayodhya. There will be a change in 2029, and the people of the country will not spare those who have committed corruption in Ayodhya and Ujjain,” he alleged.Ahir’s switch to the ruling Shiv Sena comes just days after six of the nine Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs crossed over to the Eknath Shinde-led faction, dealing another political setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh has urged Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar to establish a study group for a long-stalled socio-economic and educational survey of the Muslim community.

MUMBAI: Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh, on Monday urged DCM Sunetra Pawar, who is also minister for minority development, to establish a study group to facilitate the long-pending survey of the Muslim community, which has remained stalled for the past 15 years, and name it after the late Ajit Pawar.In his letter to Pawar, Shaikh said that the Dr Mehmood ur Rahman Study Group, constituted by the Maharashtra government in 2013, had recommended conducting a socio-economic and educational survey of Muslims.“In 2022, the state government assigned the survey to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), and a Govt Resolution (GR) was issued on 21 September 2022. However, following a change in government, the survey was never carried out,” Shaikh said.Shaikh stated that a comprehensive assessment of the Muslim community’s living conditions, access to financial assistance, benefits received under government schemes, infrastructure, educational opportunities, and healthcare facilities would present a realistic picture of the community’s status.“It would also help the government formulate region-specific policies to bring Muslims into the mainstream of development. No comprehensive data on the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims has been compiled since the publication of the Sachar Committee Report in 2006,” remarked Shaikh.“The new study group must be named after the late Ajit Dada Pawar. He had consistently pursued issues concerning the Muslim community. Ajit Pawar’s decisive initiatives led to the establishment of the Minority Research and Training Institute (MRTI), the Minority Commissionerate, etc,” demanded Shaikh.Shaikh said that conducting the survey would provide a clearer understanding of the condition of the Muslim community.“Muslims constitute 11.54% of Maharashtra’s population, making them the second-largest religious community after Hindus. The state has 56 Muslim-majority towns. Such surveys can be conducted through outsourced agencies with limited funds and manpower, and that the government has previously conducted similar surveys for several other communities,” he added.

Mumbai: When doctors at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital in Parel drew blood from a two-and-a-half-month-old baby girl, they froze. Instead of the familiar crimson, the syringe filled with a thick, pinkish liquid.What began as an evaluation for an enlarged heart quickly turned into a race against time to save a child suffering from familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD), a rare inherited disorder affecting fat metabolism that affects roughly one in a million.The baby, the first child of a Bandra couple after four years of marriage, was referred to Wadia Hospital on May 29 for heart problems. “They came with an X-ray that showed an unusually large heart for a two-month-old,” said paediatric cardiologist Dr Sumitra Venkatesh from Wadia Hospital. But the unusually light-coloured blood suggested something more serious.Tests revealed triglyceride levels of 42,000 mg/dL — almost 300 times the normal level. “With such high triglycerides, arteries can get clogged, triggering heart attack or stroke,” said Dr Venkatesh. Within hours, specialists from paediatric endocrinology, cardiology, intensive care, hepatology, genetics, nutrition and radiology came together to chart a treatment plan.“We came to Wadia Hospital on May 29 for an OPD consultation and never imagined our child had such a rare disorder that she would remain in hospital for a month,” said her father, a mechanic from Bandra.For the next 16 days, she was kept off oral feeds and on IV nutrition to reduce the fat circulating in her blood. “Keeping a hungry, crying infant fasting for over two weeks wasn’t easy, especially with the mother breaking down,” said Dr Venkatesh, adding that the team used a pacifier to quieten the child.Once the triglyceride levels began falling, the focus shifted to designing a safe oral diet. Mother’s milk was ruled out because of fat content. Importing a special feed from the US was expensive. “So, our nutritionist worked out a jugaad, based largely on the easily available skimmed milk powder,” said Dr Venkatesh.By the 19th day of hospitalisation, the baby’s triglyceride level dropped to 242 mg/dL, her blood regained its normal colour and heart function improved. Genetic testing confirmed LPLD, and the hospital plans to test both parents for the mutation.Wadia Hospital medical director and paediatric endocrinologist Prof Dr Sudha Rao described it as one of the most severe cases she encountered. “The child will require lifelong restriction of dietary fat,” she said, adding that she is expected to grow and develop normally.Paediatric cardiologist Dr Swati Garekar of Fortis Hospital, Mulund, said LPLD is so rare that many doctors never encounter a case during their careers. “However, with progress in medicine, we may have appropriate treatment in the near future,” she said.For the parents, the little girl’s recovery is the greatest reward. “She is mostly a happy child — except when she is hungry,” her father said with a smile.

Some of the seized capsules

Mumbai: The Pune man arrested for allegedly passing out pills filled with zinc phosphide at a Muharram procession last week had destroyed some of the poison he had ordered online, said police.The probe has shown that the suspect, Fayyaz Premji (39), had ordered 30,000 capsules and 50kg of zinc phosphide, often used as rat poison, from an online platform. It isn’t clear how much of it was destroyed. A team is working on the order’s digital trail. “A letter seeking his account statement has been sent to his bank,” said a police officer. Police had seized 14,900 capsules filled with the poison from Premji and are awaiting a chemical analysis report.The motive behind the mass poisoning plot is yet to be ascertained.The officer said Premji appeared to be “disturbed” and claimed that some people from the Khoja Shia community, to which he belonged, had “made his life miserable”. “His wife left him in 2016-17 and moved in with her parents. The couple had no children. His brother’s wife too left the marital home. Premji’s two sisters—an accountant and a physiotherapist—are settled in Iran, along with their mother. The two brothers and their father stayed in Pune.” Premji contested and lost an election within his community in 2015, said the officer. “He claimed that some people used to harass his grandfather as well.”A community leader said he initially questioned many religious practices, but over time, he turned more “destructive”. A leader of Khoja Shia Isnaashri Jamaat in Mumbai said Premji led a campaign against some long-held customs and revered figures in the community. “He began a campaign against Maulana Ahmed Ali Abdi, who is a representative of our Iraq-based marja (a very senior cleric) and spiritual head Agha Syed Ali Sistani in India. He said instead of self-flagellation, Shias should donate blood on Ashura. We do hold blood donation camps, but cannot abolish rituals.”A court on Monday extended Premji’s police custody till July 4.Habib Hospital in Dongri said four persons who had taken ill after consuming the pills are recovering. Javed Shroff, chairman of the hospital trust, said the patients are out of danger.