Speaking with mid-day, Lavekar said, “Ranjana Patil is our nagar sevak and she had invited me to the vaccination facility on Saturday to inaugurate it. Soon, some Shiv Sena workers showed up… and it escalated into a scuffle and some pushing and pulling between both party workers.” She alleged that BJP women party workers were “manhandled” and “abused” by the opposing camp.

When asked if it was correct for a vaccination centre to be politicised, Lavekar said, “BMC needs people and helpers to aid them in carrying out their duties at vaccination centres. They cannot do it all alone. They need people to help them organise. They do not have enough man force.”

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Shiv Sena’s Patel said: “The drive-in vaccination facility at Andheri Sports Complex is a BMC initiative. I had been invited there by virtue of being the BMC Health Committee Chairman. But when I reached there, she [Lavekar] got hyper. I also saw that social distancing protocol was not being  followed. When we requested for some of the party workers to simply move away, a scuffle broke out.” She added: “It became a political matter because the programme was organised by the Mahanagar Palika. There is no need for an MLA [Lavekar] to come there—she has no role.”