Days after the Mahayuti won the elections to the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister said on Sunday that Mumbai will get a mayor from the ruling alliance. Shinde's Shiv Sena, which contested the elections in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has emerged as a kingmaker in BMC after it won 29 seats.
"Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor. Even neighbouring cities like Kalyan-Dombivli will have a Mahayuti mayor," the deputy chief minister said, while taking a dig at Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).
Shinde has also moved his corporators to a five-star hotel in Bandra. Although the party has officially said that it has done to refresh its leaders, many view it as a pressure tactic to get a major share in the BMC. However, many also consider the step as an attempt to safeguard the corporators from poaching, as the Uddhav Sena has been taking digs at Shinde to pressurise him.
"The new corporators will get a common platform to interact at the hotel. I wanted to meet them as we are registering the group of 29 corporators with the Konkan divisional commissioner," Shinde said.
Uddhav Sena's dare to Shinde
Interestingly, Shinde's remarks come hours after Sena-UBT's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut claimed that many corporators from the deputy chief minister's party do not want a BJP mayor in Mumbai. The Uddhav Sena also dared Shinde to ensure that the next mayor is from Shiv Sena, which has given 23 mayors to Mumbai.
Raut claimed that even Shinde does not want a BJP mayor in India's financial capital. Demanding that the corporators must be freed, he said, "Many new corporators are originally Shiv Sainiks (of undivided Shiv Sena). Our understanding is everyone wants that a BJP mayor not be elected."
Shinde has 29 corporators, while the BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 89 corporators. Together, they have 118 corporators, four more than the majority mark of 114. Along with three corporators of Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), this number rises to 121. The NCP, party of Mahayuti, had contested the elections separately, though.
Meanwhile, the Uddhav Sena has 65 corporators. It contested the elections with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which has six seats. The Congress has 24 seats and the NCP(SP) has one seat. The Congress and the NCP(SP) are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which also includes the Uddhav Sena. However, the two had contested the elections separately.
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