BJP MLA’s kin up for mayoral post

Emerging stronger than ever with 61 seats and a clear majority in the 95member Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is now looking to zero in on a person to be crowned as the Mayor of the civic body.

While elections to appoint the new mayor of will be held on August 28, the first two and half year stint for the post is reserved for women under the OBC category.

Several names are already doing the rounds for the key post. BJP legislator Narendra Mehta’s sister-in-law Dimple Mehta who is said to be the frontrunner for the post is a two time corporator and was also the chairperson of the women and child welfare panel. Apart from that there are nine women corporators in the BJP who represent the OBC category.

However, most of them are first time members and “imports” who had defected to the BJP from other political parties before the elections. Among the heavyweight ‘imports’ are Prabhat Patil, who has an unbeaten track record of getting elected for the sixth consecutive term in the civic body and two times corporator Vandana Mangesh Patil, who was earlier elected on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket and later defected to the BJP. Known to be an aggressive and studious corporator, Prabhat Patil represented the Congress before joining the BJP.

The BJP members said the party's selection for mayoral candidate should be based on experience and seniority, so as to ensure smooth implementation of the party's agenda.

Mehta’s sister-in-law Dimple Mehta who is said to be the frontrunner for the post is a two time corporator