Mahayuti member will be Mumbai’s mayor, says Eknath Shinde

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on Monday (January 19), asserted that the Mumbai Mayor will be from the Mahayuti alliance amid rumours of new political equations. Dismissing rumours, Shinde said the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) would not take any decision that goes against the people's mandate.

The comment comes after 29 corporators-elect of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) were shifted to a hotel in Mumbai after the BJP–Shiv Sena alliance secured a narrow majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Also read: Maharashtra civic polls: BJP captures BMC after 25 years; saffron surge across state

Similarly, mayors of the Mahayuti alliance will be installed in those civic bodies where the Shiv Sena and BJP had contested the elections together, he told reporters.

There is speculation that Shinde is keen to secure the BMC mayor’s post for the Shiv Sena — at least for the first two-and-a-half years — since it is the birth centenary year of party founder late Bal Thackeray.

"Shiv Sena and BJP had fought the Mumbai civic elections as an alliance, and therefore the Mahayuti's candidate would become the mayor. The same decision would be followed in Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar and other municipal corporations where the alliance contested jointly," Shinde told reporters on Monday.

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Officially, the Shiv Sena maintains that the newly elected members were shifted to the hotel for an orientation workshop to make them aware of the functioning of the country's richest civic body.

Speculations after polls

The move followed the declaration of the BMC poll results, which showed that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had emerged as the second largest party after the BJP by winning 65 seats.

The BJP won 89 seats and its ally, the Shiv Sena, 29, handing the Mahayuti combine a narrow majority in the 227-member BMC.

Also read: Maharashtra civic polls not a saffron-wash; BJP has reasons to worry, rivals have hope

He also said there was no truth in reports of new political equations being formed in Mumbai or elsewhere in Maharashtra, and the Mahayuti would have the mayoral leadership wherever the alliance had contested together.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena stated in a release that although no single party has secured a clear majority, the people’s mandate favoured the Sena-BJP alliance in Mumbai.