Mumbai: In a surprise move, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday announced that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not contest the mayoral election in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). With this, it is almost certain that the mayor will be from Shiv Sena and that the party will retain its hold on India’s richest civic body. Sources from BJP said the party would have had to forge a compromise with either Sena or the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party to come to power in the BMC and both options would have dented the CM’s “clean” image.
“We have decided not to put up a candidate for mayor or deputy mayor or any other committee chairman for BMC. We will not even claim the post of Opposition leader,” Mr Fadnavis said after attending BJP’s core committee meeting.
The BJP’s announcement came on a day when Shiv Sena announced Vishwanath Mahadeshwar as its mayoral candidate. The Congress has also announced that its corporator Vitthal Lokre will contest the mayoral election. However, Sena has 84 corporators and the support of four Independent corporators, while Congress has only 31 corporators in the house of 227. Since BJP, which has 82 corporators has decided not to contest or support any other party, Mr Mahadeshwar is the clear frontrunner for the mayor’s post.
Explaining the logic behind BJP’s decision to not contest the mayoral election, a senior party leader said, “We contested the election on the issue of transparency. Mr Fadnavis is seen as a leader with a clean image. That would have been dented if we had joined hands with either Shiv Sena or NCP.”
With this decision, Mr Fadnavis has also ensured stability for his government in the state. It is now expected that Sena will not withdraw from the government and destabilise it. BJP needs Shiv Sena’s support in the state, as it does not have a clear majority on its own. The Congress has criticised the BJP’s withdrawal from the election for the Mumbai mayor’s post as a “complete U-turn from its earlier stand of targeting the Shiv Sena over the issue of corruption and transparency”. “BJP’s decision to back out from the election is as good as supporting Shiv Sena’s corruption in the BMC. Is this BJP’s transparency?” asked Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam.
