India, Oct. 6 -- A phone call made by senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil to a police officer asking whether a popular dancer, Gautami Patil, had been arrested in connection with an accident has landed him in a controversy. An autorickshaw driver was seriously injured when Gautami's car collided with his autorickshaw in Pune. In a video, Patil, who is also an MLA from Pune, was seen asking the DCP why the dancer was not arrested. After the video-apparently shot by someone in Patil's office-went viral, Patil drew flak from the opposition as well as the ruling parties, with some accusing him of staging it for publicity. Sharing the video on his X account, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar asked whether Patil would also make such calls regarding a criminal in his constituency who recently managed to escape abroad. "There should be action against guilty people but why insist on arresting a dancer who was not in the car?" asked Pawar. Ravindra Dhangekar, a leader from the ruling Shiv Sena, advised Patil to pay attention to goons in the area "instead of making videos of his phone calls and making them viral". Patil shot back at his detractors, saying he had made the call to ensure justice for a poor rickshaw driver after the latter's daughter sought his help. Meanwhile, the Pune police may summon Gautami for her statement. Gautami is immensely popular in rural Maharashtra for her dance performances although these have often been called vulgar. Her shows are much sought-after, with local politicians organising them on various occasions. This time, however, she is caught in a political crossfire. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)'s arrest last Wednesday of Shankar Patole, deputy commissioner of the Thane municipal corporation's anti-encroachment department, for accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh has raised many an eyebrow in the ruling alliance. Patole was considered to be on good terms with an influential politician in the Mahayuti. The ACB is part of the home department headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. There was surprise in Thane's political circles when he was promoted and appointed head of the anti-encroachment department in a city where illegal constructions are rampant. The ACB has said in court that it will be probing the connections of the officer. There are speculations whether the recent actions will lead to a full-blown political war within the Mahayuti though citizens are happy that there seems to be a crackdown on some corrupt practices in civic bodies. Significantly, this is the second high-profile arrest in the Mumbai metropolitan region. Earlier, Vasai-Virar municipal commissioner Anil Pawar, who too was considered to be in the good books of a couple of influential politicians, was arrested in connection with irregularities in the civic body. Union home minister Amit Shah's visit to Ahilyanagar district on Sunday to attend three programmes organised by water resources minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is seen as confirmation of his growing importance in the BJP. The Vikhe-Patil family is widely respected in the politically significant cooperative sector, as Radhakrishna's grandfather, the late Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil, was the doyen of the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil was leader of the opposition in the assembly when he was in the Congress and was seen as one of the contenders for the CM's post, had the party won. He joined the BJP before the 2019 assembly elections and managed to get the crucial revenue minister's post in the Eknath Shinde-led government. When Devendra Fadnavis became CM again, he got the relatively less significant water resources portfolio. He earned appreciation in the party, as he managed to convince Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil to call off his hunger strike in Mumbai last month. On Sunday, as Shah spent most of the day in his area, there was talk in the ruling coalition that Vikhe-Patil's stakes were again rising in the party. It is common for political party workers to put the names of their leaders' spouses on congratulatory banners. However, in an interesting instance, the husband of Anuradha Chavan, BJP MLA from Sambhajinagar district, recently wrote a letter to her-which was later made public-asking her to instruct her followers not to use his photos in their advertisements. The reason: Atul Chavan is chief engineer of the public works department and his office is getting complaints about a government employee being seen on a political party's banners. Chavan's opponents say he is doing it to save himself from disciplinary action, as a government employee is not allowed to participate in any political activity....