He was in the city to attend some party meetings and address a press conference, but BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra ended up wading though knee-deep water after heavy rains lashed the country's financial capital -- resulting in a viral picture on social media.
A photograph of Patra, holding his shoes to save them from rain waters, got circulated and shared multiple times on Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook among various platforms. In the photo, he was seen along with Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye, both holding umbrellas.
Patra had reached the city BJP unit office in Dadar for scheduled meetings, which were to be followed up by a press conference at 2.30 pm, a party functionary said.
"There was a media-related party meeting, which he attended. The photograph was snapped at around 1 pm in Dadar area, before the scheduled media briefing, which was called off due to rains," a party source said.
"Held a meeting of the Media Department organised by @BJP4Maharashtra in Mumbai today!" Patra tweeted after the meeting.
Hours later, Patra was seen participating in the evening news debates on various TV channels.
Interestingly, while the state BJP unit cancelled Patra's media briefing citing rains as the cause, state education minister Vinod Tawde seemed to downplay Mumbaikars' misery due to the incessant rains.
The minister said there was no need to "create panic" over the rains. "Schools do not need to close today as the situation in Mumbai is not as bad as it was yesterday," he said.
Normal life in Mumbai continues to be affected due to heavy rains lashing the city. For the last couple of days, the downpour has caused traffic snarls, with people being seen walking through knee-deep waters.
Many "local" trains, the lifeline of Mumbai commuters, were either cancelled or running late.
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