While Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde is keeping his 29 corporators in a five-star hotel, apparently to prevent poaching after the NDA’s victory in the BMC polls, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) raised tensions by saying “the game is on”, according to an NDTV report.
Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP and close associate of Uddhav Thackeray, said that “a lot goes on behind the scenes” and that any majority, regardless of size, is “volatile”. He also mentioned that Thackeray’s team members are going for lunch at a five-star hotel where Shinde’s corporators are holed up. “They shouldn’t suspect us,” the news portal quoted Rauta as saying.
What did Sanjay Raut claim?
Sanjay also claimed that there are ways of communication. “No matter how much you cut them down, there are many means of communication; messages can still get through,” Sanjay Raut said, adding that “God willing” a mayor from their side could take the lead.
Notably, Uddhav Thackeray made a similar remark on the same post when he said that the BMC can have a mayor from its side “God willing”.
Sanjay Raut, who claimed that the corporators were imprisoned, was quoted by ANI as saying, “The corporators who came from this alliance (BJP-Shiv Sena)… fearing that they would be kidnapped, threatened or harmed, were kept captive in the Taj Hotel. Eknath Shinde turned twenty people from the Tajfi hotel into twenty people immediately. The CM should order the police to break the ‘jail’ and release them.” corporators.”
Shiva Sena reacts to Raut’s claims
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader and close associate of Eknath Shinde, Raju Waghmare, reacted to Raut’s claims.
“Has Sanjay Raut started seeing Jyotish now? He is still lying regularly,” an NDTV report quoted a person aware of the development as saying.
Asked why the corporators of Team Shinde were currently staying in the hotel, he said, “There is a group of robbers who have been looting Mumbai for so long and now they will try to rob our people too. That is why we have kept them in the hotel.”
BMC polls numbers game
The results of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls on Friday marked the end of the Shiv Sena’s undivided nearly three-year dominance in Mumbai, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party. However, if all opposition parties were to unite, their combined seats would be 106, eight less than a majority, making the BMC competition very tight.
In the 227-member body, the majority mark is 114 mandates. According to the final count, the BJP won 89 seats, while its ally, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, won 29. Together, the Mahayuti alliance has 118 seats, just four above the majority mark.