A section of Shiv Sena workers believes that Mumbai having a Shiv Sena mayor would be a symbolic tribute to party founder Bal Thackeray during his birth centenary year, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday, amid reports of differences with ally Bharatiya Janata Party over the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation mayoral post.
Shinde underlined that Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor and dismissed speculation about new political alignments following the declaration of civic poll results last week. He added that the same principle would apply to other municipal bodies where the Shiv Sena and BJP contested the elections together.
Bal Thackeray’s birth centenary year begins on January 23, and Shinde said some Shiv Sainiks feel that installing a Shiv Sena mayor in the BMC would be an appropriate mark of respect. His remarks are being seen as an indirect assertion of the party’s claim to the Mumbai mayor’s post.
He stressed that the Shiv Sena would not take any step against the people’s mandate, pointing out that the Mumbai civic elections were fought as an alliance between the Shiv Sena and the BJP. His comments come amid intense discussion over the shifting of 29 Shiv Sena corporators elect to a luxury hotel after the Mahayuti secured a narrow majority in the 227 member BMC.
There is speculation that Shinde is keen on securing the mayor’s post for the Shiv Sena at least for the first half of the five year term, given the symbolic importance of Bal Thackeray’s centenary year. Shinde reiterated that wherever the Shiv Sena and BJP fought together, including Thane, Kalyan Dombivli and Ulhasnagar, the mayor would be from the Mahayuti alliance.
The Shiv Sena has officially maintained that its newly elected corporators were shifted to the hotel for an orientation programme aimed at familiarising them with the functioning of India’s richest civic body. The move followed the BMC results, in which the BJP emerged as the largest party with 89 seats, followed by the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena UBT with 65 seats, while the Shinde led Shiv Sena won 29 seats.
Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray had alleged that his party moved corporators to a hotel fearing poaching by the BJP. The combined strength of the BJP and Shiv Sena has given the Mahayuti a slender majority in the BMC.
Shinde said Mumbai voters had placed their trust in the Shiv Sena BJP alliance and that mandate would be respected. He also denied reports of any new political equations emerging in Mumbai or elsewhere in Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam said the next mayor of Mumbai would be from the ruling Mahayuti and ruled out the possibility of a Sena UBT candidate securing the post. In a post on X, he said sections of the media and UBT leaders were growing restless over the mayoral race and claimed Mumbai voters had rejected what he described as 27 years of corruption by the Uddhav Thackeray faction.
Nirupam added that the Mahayuti does not require support from Sena UBT corporators to elect the mayor and noted that the poll cannot be held until the reservation lottery for the post is completed.
Meanwhile, Sena UBT spokesperson Harshal Pradhan accused the BJP and the Shinde led Shiv Sena of being power hungry and said they should resolve their internal disputes without dragging the opposition faction into the political contest.
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