Shiv Sena can retain power in BMC even if it snaps ties with BJP

The Shiv Sena can retain power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) even if it snaps ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with which it was ruling

The Shiv Sena can retain power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) even if it snaps ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with which it was ruling the civic body for more than two decades.

HT Image

There have been apprehensions within Sena that they would lose control of the BMC after parting ways with the BJP, the second largest party in the BMC.

However, the combination in the civic house shows that the Sena can have a comfortable majority with the help of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), even if the BJP goes against it. The Sena has 94 members, while the Congress-NCP combine has 36 members.

The BJP has 83 seats in the civic body. The civic house has 227 members and 114 seats are needed for a simple majority.

According to political analyst Hemant Desai, BJP could stake claim as the principal Opposition party in BMC if Sena forms the government with Congress-NCP’s support. “The BJP will become aggressive and will expose Sena on every platform. One of their main targets will be the BMC as it touches the lives of the ordinary citizens and elections are due within the next three years,” said Desai.

Moreover, the elections to elect the mayor is all set to take place this month itself. In the last elections, BJP had supported the Sena’s candidate — Vishwanath Mahadeshwar — who got elected with a comfortable majority. However, this time, it will be tough as BJP will no longer be amenable to Sena on its mayoral candidate.

For years, Sena has dominated BJP in its alliance in the BMC elections. However, in the 2017 civic body polls, BJP fought alone on the transparency plank and was able to garner a spectacular 82 seats, compared to Sena’s 84. BJP, then, decided not to be part of the ruling alliance and keep a hawk eye on Sena. BJP did not even stake the claim to become the principal opposition party.

Standing committee chairman and Sena corporator, Yashwant Jadhav, said they are yet to take a decision on taking support from any other party in the BMC house. “We have not come to that stage, but the final decision will be taken by [party chief] Uddhav Thackeray,” said Jadhav.

According to BMC Opposition leader and Congress corporator Ravi Raja, it was too premature to speculate on his party’s future course of action. “It is not that whatever happens in the state will be repeated in the BMC. However, the final decision will be taken by our party high command,” said Raja.