Cong may ask Sena to share power in BMC

Ahead of the mayoral election on November 22 and the rift between the BJP and Shiv Sena, the Congress may seek to share power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation,

Ahead of the mayoral election on November 22 and the rift between the BJP and Shiv Sena, the Congress may seek to share power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, India’s richest civic body, if they join the Sena government. A senior Congress leader said, “We are in the Opposition and we would like to have our candidate in the mayoral elections. There could also be a scenario that we might be in an alliance with the Sena at the state level, but prefer to be in Opposition in the BMC. However, the decision to field a candidate or to support the Sena depends on what happens in the state.

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The Shiv Sena, which has a majority in the BMC, has a sitting mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who was elected in 2017 with support from the BJP. A Shiv Sena corporator said, “Yashwant Jadhav, Ashish Chemburkar, Sheetal Mhatre and Kishori Pednekar are in the race. We have not discussed power-sharing in the BMC, but there are chances the Congress may demand improvement committee, BEST committee and NCP might ask for deputy mayor’s post and other committees like law committee in exchange for withdrawing a candidate.”

Through a lottery, the state urban development department on Wednesday decided the post of mayor will be for the open general category, unlike 2017. The nomination process will start on November 18. A BJP corporator said, “We might claim the post of leader of opposition, if the Sena, Congress and NCP decide to have an alliance.”

Surendra Jondhale, a political analyst, said, “For Shiv Sena, the BMC is the lifeline and it will try to retain the mayoral post at any cost. In the past, too, Sena had an alliance with the Congress in the 1970s. The BJP might put up their candidate against the Sena and try to get support from other parties by horse trading. But it depends on how things unfold while forming the state government.”