City gets 76th mayor as Sena wins fifth BMC term in a row
The Shiv Sena came to power for the fifth time in a row in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, with its nominee Vishwanath Mahadeshwar elected Mumbai’s 76th mayor on Wednesday with the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mahadeshwar, an educationist and three-term councillor, defeated Congress candidate Vithal Lokare by securing 171 votes in the house of 227. The Sena’s councillor from Worli, Hemangi Worlikar, was elected deputy mayor.
Though the BJP backed the Sena, it was clear their ties would remain stormy. The new mayor did not thank the BJP in his speech and Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray -- basking in a hard-fought victory, even if narrow, over his ally turned foe to retain power in Mumbai after going it alone -- remained combative as ever in his references to the BJP.
Thackeray, who visited the civic house soon after Maha deshwar was declared elected thanked Mumbaiites and the Marathi Manoos for the victory
“Without crumbling under pressure we showed our rivals who is the number one party in Mumbai,” he said in an apparent jibe at the BJP. The two parties had parted ways after a quarter of a century and contested the civic polls separately. After a lot of posturing by both sides the BJP, which won 82 seats to the Sena’s 84, decided not to contest the mayoral election, but its leaders have put the Sena on notice. Manoj Kotak group leader of BJP, said, “On orders from our party’s city chief to sup port Sena, we did. We will work as watchdogs in the civic body and will support or oppose depending on how transparent a proposal is.”