Mumbai: Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar Thursday told reporters that she has learnt an important lesson — never to trust anyone with her mobile phone.
Pednekar’s chastened insight came after a supposed gaffe on Twitter Wednesday, which brought much embarrassment to herself and the Shiv Sena, giving the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) some useful fodder to attack the ruling party.
The mayor allegedly used objectionable language in a tweet while responding to a Twitter user’s question about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) global tender for vaccines.
Pednekar eventually deleted the tweet, but only after it had already gone viral and a bunch of Twitter users, including the BJP’s Mumbai unit, had screenshots of it.
“Kishori Pednekar, the mayor who answered Tujhya baapala (to your father) to a Mumbaikar who asked her about who the contract for vaccines was given to, has given a display of her party’s culture,” the party tweeted.
“The mayor may have deleted the tweet, but these rude letters by the first citizen of Mumbai have been etched forever.”
‘Shiv Sainik sent out tweet from my phone’
Pednekar maintains that she had nothing to do with the objectionable tweet, and that the tweet was sent out by a party worker who was handling her phone while she was busy with a work commitment.
Speaking to reporters, Pednekar said, “There are a number of objectionable tweets out there. A Shiv Sainik sent out that particular tweet from my phone. He may have done it out of anger.
“I usually check my phone when it comes back in my hands, and I noticed the said tweet,” she added. “I realised that it was a big mistake and that this should not have been done. However badly others might behave with us, we should not behave the same way with them.”
She further said she immediately deleted the tweet and dismissed the party worker responsible for it.
“I have also learnt this lesson now that however close someone might be, I will never give them my mobile phone again. Today it was this, tomorrow it can be something even worse,” she said.
Also read: Modi govt said no to door-to-door vaccine drive. So Mumbai came up with another option