Shiv Sena single largest party in KDMC, no majority yet

After emerging as the single largest party in the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation polls winning 51 seats out of 120, Shiv Sena started negotiations with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena that won nine seats to wrest control of the prestigious municipality. However, the BJP, which won 43 seats, claimed that the KDMC mayor would be from their party. BJP’s tally reached 49 by the evening with support from independents.

In the local body election results declared on Monday, there was no overall winner in the state. While the BJP managed to improve its tally of seats in the KDMC and Kolhapur municipal corporation elections, the party failed to get a clear majority in both cases. Shiv Sena, despite emerging as the single largest party in KDMC is short of majority by nine seats. The MNS, which did very well in the last elections by winning 26 seats, managed to win only nine seats this time. However, the Raj Thackeray-led party could still play a kingmaker’s role if Sena and BJP cannot bury their hatchet.

The BJP with 43 seats is 19 short of the majority mark, but claims to have the support of six independents. Till the afternoon, Shiv Sena was ahead at 60 seats and Shiv Sainiks started celebrations at Matoshree — the residence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray. But, once the final tally was announced, Sena realised it would need 10 more seats to get control. Mr Thackeray then cancelled his scheduled tour to visit the Ganesh temple at Dombivali in the evening.

Later, Sena leader Anil Parab met MNS leader Nitin Sardesai secretly to negotiate. However, Mr Parab refused to speak about his meeting. Shiv Sena leader and industries minister Subhash Desai, meanwhile, said that they would not need support of the MNS. “The mayor of KDMC will be from the Shiv Sena and we will not need the support of MNS,” said Mr Desai. When asked, how they would manage to get the numbers, he said that there were independent corporators who could support them.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Kapil Patil said that BJP did not criticise Sena during the election campaign. “We just responded to Shiv Sena’s criticism. Even today all options are open for us.” According to Mr Patil, all the elected BJP corporators met at Dombivali late in the evening and discussed the situation. A state BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said that BJP and Sena would share power in KDMC and split the mayor’s term between them.

He said, “As the election is over, the differences between Sena and BJP are over. We are in power at the Centre and in the state. So it won’t be difficult to come to power in the KDMC.”

Allies at the Centre and in Maharashtra, the BJP and the Shiv Sena dismantled their alliance for this municipal election days after they bickered over the Sena’s stance against Pakistani artistes performing in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena’s announcement that it would fight alone was seen as a move to test the waters for a separate contest in the crucial Mumbai local body elections in 2017.

When asked whether BJP still planned to contest BMC independently, a BJP leader said, “We are two separate parties and we have right to increase our base. If we contest independently, we have opportunity to contest all the 227 seats. In fact, the unexpected result at KDMC has boosted the morale of the party workers,” he said. AIMIM and BSP won a single seat each while the Congress and NCP won 4 and 2 seats respectively.

In Kolhapur, which is the traditional bastion of Congress and NCP, no party won the majority. But Congress (27) and NCP (15) can rule the municipal corporation by forging a post-poll alliance. However, BJP is negotiating with NCP to get control of the 81-seat KMC along with Shiv Sena. According to a state BJP leader, the party plans to negotiate with NCP to keep Congress out of power. The combined tally of BJP-Shiv Sena and NCP will be 51which is absolute majority. NCP leader and former minister Hasan Mushrif however maintained that NCP and Congress would be in power and party president Sunil Tatkare would take a final call. Meanwhile, Congress leader and former minister Satej Patil met Hasan Mushrif. Mr Patil said, “Voters have given a mandate towards a Congress-NCP alliance and hence both parties will be in power. The first mayor will be from Congress and NCP will get a chance in the second half.”