The theme for the day was saffron even as Nandakumar Satam was declared elected unopposed by chairperson Gajanan Thakre to the prestigious civic post now armed with total executive powers. Thakre's election as chairperson was announced earlier by commissioner Girish Gokhale who was the presiding officer.

The day's proceedings began with controversy. No sooner did Gokhale begin his address to the general body meeting of the House than he was shouted down for occupying the mayoral chair. Opposition Congress and Samajwadi corporators were on their feet, raising slogans denouncing Gokhale's act. Congress leader Kisan Jadhav raising a point of order said the chair had always been occupied by elected representatives and it did not behove a bureaucrat to ``bring it to disrepute''.

Corporators SubhashMayekar, K A Bastiwala, former mayor R T Kadam and Ramesh Joshi joined Jadhav, demanding that the chair which had ``a glorious history of its own'' be vacated at once, and went on to launch a scathing attack on the new system. An acerbic Ramesh Joshi observed that the chair ironically was no more the mayor's as the chairperson would now occupy it and conduct the business of the House.

Opposing the point of order, the Bharatiya Janata Party 's Sardar Tara Singh and Gopal Shetty chided the Opposition for making it an issue especially when it hadn't fielded a single candidate for the two posts.``They have no right to speak,'' thundered Singh. Gokhale tried to counter the onslaught by pointing out that he was presiding over the general body meeting as permitted by the new Act. Kadam declared that the House members had ``no knowledge'' of the same, and insisted that Gokhale brief them, prompting the commissioner to remind him that copies of the Act had been circulated on April 21. He suggested that the member goand read his. An infuriated Kadam asked him to take back his words. Gokhale refused. Angry Opposition members rushed to the Mayor's podium even as ruling party members voiced their protests, resulting in a noisy verbal duel. Amidst the cacophony, an unfazed Gokhale announced Thakre's election. And, even as the Opposition walked out, a stream of flowers and greetings inundated the House. Crackers and a live band came alive outside, the sounds reverberating through the civic headquarters.

Gokhale had vociferously opposed the mayor-in-council system, going so far as to threaten to resign if it was introduced. However, ``the system will work if good persons work on it,'' he said today. ``It is not as if the previous system gave more power to the civic chief. Earlier the limit on expenses was Rs 3 lakh beyond which the commissioner needed a sanction from the committees. Now the limit has been raised to Rs 10 lakh,''said Gokhale, adding he had had a two-hour meeting with Satam, who he felt was ``serious'' abouttackling city issues.

In his maiden speech before the House, Satam said the task before him was an onerous one but he would strive to execute it successfully. ``It is a new chapter in Mumbai's history. For the past five decades none of the mayors were vested with executive powers. Hence it remained an ornamental post.''

``I will make life better in the city,'' the new mayor assured the House. While he did not spell out his plans for the city's development, Satam declared blood donation as the top priority this year. ``There is a severe shortage of blood in the city. A fall in blood donation has only compounded the problem,'' Satam added.