No oppn leader post in BMC, BJP to move court

Mayor Kishori Pednekar rejected BJP’s claim to the Leader of Opposition (LOP) post in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Thursday. Following the decision,

Mayor Kishori Pednekar rejected BJP’s claim to the Leader of Opposition (LOP) post in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Thursday. Following the decision, BJP leader Prabhakar Shinde said he will challenge it in court.

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In the general body meeting of the civic body on Thursday, Pednekar declared BJP’s Mulund corporator Prabhakar Shinde as the party’s group leader in the BMC, but rejected his claim on the LOP post.

“After 2017 civic body elections, as per rule, we have appointed Congress corporator Ravi Raja as Leader of Opposition,” said Pednekar.

After the announcement, BJP corporators started sloganeering against the Mayor and demanded to put the subject for discussion. They also staged a protest and boycotted the proceedings.

“We are the second-largest party in the house, considering this our claim is valid but unfortunately by bypassing all democratic principles Sena has been supporting Congress,” said Shinde.

He added that the BJP has decided to approach the Bombay high court over the issue.

The Shiv Sena has 95 corporators in the 227-member civic house, the BJP has 83, followed by Congress 30 and NCP 9.

Refuting all allegations BMC house leader Vishakha Raut said there is no violation of rules and regulations. “In fact, in 2017 only BJP leader Manoj Kotak refused the LOP post, saying that we will work as chowkidar. We were ready to offer them the post at that time but they refused. This is on record of BMC proceedings,” said Raut.

The BJP, on February 27, submitted a letter to the Mayor requesting corporator Prabhakar Shinde to be nominated for the post of LOP and Vinod Mishra as party’s group leader. According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, group leader of the main Opposition party can only become the LOP. After realising its error, the BJP on Monday submitted a revised letter to mayor Pednekar and BMC administration, nominating Shinde for the LOP post.