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Missing Shiv Sena (UBT) Mumbai corporator Sarita Mhaske back with party
Sarita Mhaske was incommunicado amid speculation that she was rejoining the deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday announced the return of Sarita Mhaske, a newly elected corporator in Mumbai who was incommunicado when the party registered its group of corporators on Wednesday, amid speculation that she was rejoining the deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
“Mhaske is back with the party. All I can say is that all is well that ends well,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Milind Narvekar as he met Mhaske around midnight. Mhaske quit the Shinde-led Sena ahead of the civic polls to return to the Thackeray faction.
Narvekar refused to divulge what transpired. “The fact is that Mhaske is back with the party and all 65 [Mumbai] corporators are with us,” he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena alliance has a clear majority of 118 in the 227-member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai’s governing body. The BJP won 89 wards and the Sena 29. Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged 65 to emerge as the second largest party.
The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Mumbai and 20 other municipal corporations on Friday last, with the Thackeray family losing control over the civic body in the financial capital for the first time in 25 years. The MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) contested the civic polls in an alliance years after Shinde split the Sena and allied with the BJP. The alliance was forged after Raj Thackeray reconciled with his estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Two newly elected Shiv Sena (UBT) corporators in the Kalyan-Dombivli civic body were separately believed to be willing to support Shinde led-Sena. Two others are likely to join Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders said the two were from the MNS but contested the elections on their symbol.
MNS extended support to Shiv Sena in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation on Wednesday, strengthening Shinde’s bid for a majority and dealing a blow to the alliance between the Thackeray cousins.
