The Viju Natekar Autorickshaw and Taxi Union, which has nearly 90 per cent of Thane's rickshaw-owners as its members, observed a complete bandh till 6 pm. As almost 35,000 rickshaws didn't hit Thane's roads, Thane Municipal Transport had to add at least 50 extra buses to its fleet to meet the shortfall in demand, especially in areas like Vrindavan, Wagle Estate and Majiawada.

The stir, for once, didn't invite the anger of locals. Avinash Deshmukh, a resident, said: ``This auto strike has been for a good cause. We should all support it.'' Makhanlal Vishwakarma, a carpenter from Shastrinagar, pointed out: ``If the stir is in support of Chandrashekhar, it's justified. We can surely sacrifice a day for an upright official like him.''

At around 8pm, nearly 100 doctors belonging to the Thane District Medical Practitioners Association, along with some lawyers, marched to the TMC headquarters with candles in hand to protest the treatment meted out to the commissioner. Holding aloft placards saying ``We want Chandrashekhar as commissioner,'' they said their dharna outside the TMC office would continue till late in the night.

One of the assembled doctors, Raju Pamnani, said: ``Corporators have occupied their seats for the last five years and neglected all beautification projects. But the commissioner has concentrated on developmental work like road-widening and improvement in the drainage system. Street-lights have come up on every nook and corner of Thane largely due to Chandrashekhar's efforts.''

The Thane Nagrik Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, headed by former Congress corporator Harishchandra Chauhan, too held a meeting of Thane residents in Naupada to express solidarity with the civic commissioner. About 250 people attended the meeting, and Chauhan saidthe Samiti would take a morcha to every corporator's residence on December 16 to demand an explanation on the entire episode.

The commoners' support to Chandrashekhar prompted some political volte-faces too. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Prataprao Bhonsle sent a letter to leader of opposition Manoj Shinde demanding to know why Congress corporators had voted against the municipal commissioner when the party leadership had earlier issued an order asking them to `extend their support to the crusader.'

Dashrath Patil, Thane district chief of Janata Dal submitted his resignation to the party high command this morning. He expressed regret that the four JD Corporators had ``violated'' his orders and voted against the commissioner.

This morning, Chandrashekhar, Thane mayor Premsingh Rajput and other Sena and Congress leaders met Sena chief Bal Thackeray at Matoshree. Thackeray said he would issue a statement later in the evening clarifying his stand on the matter.