BJP rebel Geeta Jain’s ghar wapsi triggers tug-of-war in MBMC

In a fix, corporators and civic admin stare at a power shift

After suffering a defeat at the hands of rebel candidate Geeta Jain in the assembly election, former BJP legislator Narendra Mehta appears desperate to maintain his dominance over the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).

The Free Press Journal had indicated about the impending perception battle of who controls the MBMC — Geeta Jain or Narendra Mehta. This became evident after Mehta not only registered his active presence in an official review meeting held by the civic administration, but also doled out instructions and advisories to the participating officials.

Ironically, incumbent legislator Geeta Jain, who is also the BJP’s sitting corporator, was apparently not informed of the meeting, which according to Mehta loyalists, was held under the aegis of mayor Dimple Mehta.

While the BJP single handedly governs the MBMC, Mehta had tightened its stranglehold over the MBMC on the virtue of BJP’s majority which has 61 of the 95 corporators. After expelling Geeta Jain for contesting

against the official candidate, the state BJP unit re-inducted her into the party fold, which has become a major cause of worry for Mehta.

Apart from upcoming standing committee and other panel election, the mayoral term also comes to an end in February, next year.

Political analysts believe that due to the current political scenario in the state, it is

very much likely that Jain will soon be in the driving seat, thus rekindling hopes of senior leaders like fivetime corporator Morris Rodrigues, who were sidelined and deprived of rightful posts in the MBMC.

In a significant development, a closed-door meeting of the BJP corporators was held by Ravindra Chavhan in the presence of Jain and Mehta on Sunday.