Big blow to Mendonca as his loyalists join BJP

With elections to the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) just around the corner, heavyweight corporators and leaders are shuffling from one party to another.

Even as partners turned rivals—BJP and Shiv Sena — are locked in a fierce pre-election battle to woo influential leaders from rival parties to establish their supremacy over the civic body, incoming and outgoing from both parties is also on in full swing. While sitting BJP corporators—Sujata Shinde, Suman Kothari, Dipti Bhatt amongst others —have jumped into the Shiv Sena wagon, their Sena counterpart— Prashant Dalvi— joined the BJP party fold on Thursday.

However, a former NCP legislator, who recently joined the Shiv Sena amidst much fanfare suffered a huge blow on his home turf in Uttan on Friday after a large number of his loyalists and supporters, including former corporators and local heavy weights, including

The political development has also exposed the diminishing clout and declining influence of Gilbert Mendonca

Renold Bechri, Haryl Borges, Vidydhar Revankar, Francis Borges, Adv Kenneth Garya, Edward Gonsalves raised a banner of revolt and made a surprising entry into the BJP. The move, which is said to be a master stroke played by local legislator Narendra Mehta, is all set to boost BJP prospects for three seats in the fishermen-dominated villages in and around the coastal region of Uttan which has been considered Gilbert Mendonca’s stronghold. The political development has also exposed the diminishing clout and declining influence of an embattled Mendonca who held complete sway in the region for the past more than two decades.