BJP reaches out to Sena, pulls out of race for Mumbai mayor

a dramatic end to the tussle to grab the Mumbai mayor’s post, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday evening pulled out of the race just an hour-and-a-half before the deadline for filing nominations ended. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, after consultations with the party’s core committee, announced the BJP will not put up a candidate for either the mayor or deputy mayor’s post.Fadnavis said BJP will stay away from all positions of power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and not contest elections to chairmanship of any of the crucial committees, such as the standing or improvement committees. It will also not stake claim to the post of leader of opposition in the country’s richest civic body.

Now, with only the Shiv Sena and Congress’ mayoral candidates in the race, the contest is as good as over. On the strength of its numbers, Sena’s mayoral candidate Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, a three-term corporator from Khar and an academician, is set to become Mumbai’s next mayor on March 8. The path is also clear for Sena’s deputy mayoral candidate, Hemangi Worlikar, who is the existing education committee’s chairman. Congress has fielded Vitthal Lokare for the mayor’s post and Vinni D’souza for the deputy mayor’s post. The Sena is set to establish its power in the BMC for the fifth consecutive time.

“We have taken a decision not to contest mayor’s, deputy mayor’s or any such election,” said Fadnavis. “Going by our seat strength, both Sena and BJP can get ten members each in the standing committee, but we will not be contesting the post of the standing committee chairman. We will also not be contesting elections to the improvements committee or any other committee or even the leader of opposition’s post. We will not sit in the opposition, and if needed, vote in favour of development.”The chief minister said BJP will honour the mandate given to it for transparency and all its 82 corporators will act as “soldiers of transparency” in the civic body. The decision was taken after consultation with the party’s core committee, which includes finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, public works minister Chandrakant Patil, education minister Vinod Tawde and BJP’s city chief Ashish Shelar. The BJP’s peace move also means that the Sena is unlikely to pull out of the state government, ending uncertainty over its future. Speculation had been rife after Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s announcement on January 26 that his party will henceforth contest all polls on its own.