The Congress on Saturday said there was “no question” of it joining hands with the Shiv Sena to form the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The Sena, which has been in power for decades, secured 84 votes in the 227-seat corporation, as against 82 seats for its former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam said, “We have been fighting the communal policies of both Shiv Sena and BJP. There can be no alliance or understanding with either.’ He added that the mandate showed that the Congress was meant to sit in the opposition with the BJP, The Indian Express reported. The Congress had won 31 seats.
All three major parties held meetings on Saturday to discuss the situation, but there is speculation that none of them will reveal their hand till closer to the mayoral election, which is scheduled for March 9. The Congress claims it will put up a “secular candidate” with the support of the Nationalist Congress Party and other ideologically similar outfits, DNA reported.
The BJP has been taciturn about its plans for the moment, though Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Those who want to go with Congress are free to go with them...we are firm on our agenda of transparency,” according to a Hindustan Times report.
The elections to the BMC – the country’s richest civic body – were seen as a test of the BJP’s might in Maharashtra after it split up with the Shiv Sena. The BJP won eight out of 10 corporations in the Maharashtra civic body elections on Tuesday.
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