Sena (UBT) divided over supporting Shinde in Mumbai mayoral poll

Mumbai: Amid the ongoing post-poll tussle for power in civic bodies in Maharashtra, different voices emerged in the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Friday over seeking the support of the rival Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the upcoming mayoral election in Mumbai.

Shinde, however, ruled out any such possibility, asserting that the next mayor of the metropolis will belong to the Mahayuti alliance of Shiv Sena and BJP.

While Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the Shiv Sena should support Uddhav Thackeray-led party candidate instead of ally BJP in the mayoral election in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), party MP Sanjay Raut opposed the idea, saying they will not ask for backing from the rival camp under any circumstances.

Jadhav said if Shinde’s Sena extends support to his party, it will be a true tribute to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in his 100th centenary year.

The lottery draw, conducted on Thursday for the Mumbai mayoral post, reserved the top position for a woman from the general category. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party had pinned hopes on the possibility of the post being reserved for a Scheduled Tribe (ST) woman, as both eligible candidates in that category belonged to his party.

In the civic elections held on January 15, the BJP won 89 seats in the BMC, while Shiv Sena secured 29, taking the alliance past the halfway mark of 114 required to control India’s largest and richest civic body.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), which ruled the civic body for 25 years since 1997 as an undivided political party, won 65 seats, while its allies, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (SharadPawar), won 6 and 1 seat, respectively.

Talking to reporters, Jadhav said the prospect of not having a mayor of Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena in the BMC in his centenary birth year is

very painful.

“I request and urge those who claim to take forward the ideals of Balasaheb and claim to be his real inheritors to back Balasaheb’s real Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate in the BMC polls. This will be a true tribute to Balasaheb in his birth centenary year,” Jadhav said.

Shinde should tell the BJP that although it is an alliance partner at the Centre and in the state, his party will support the Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate in the mayoral polls, he said.

“If you claim to be the real inheritors of Balasaheb’s legacy then he should not back the BJP,” Jadhav added.

The Sena (UBT) MLA said Shinde should show magnanimity if he believed in Bal Thackeray’s ideals.