Mumbai battle split wide open, Sena chief Uddhav breaks up with BJP
I will not tie up with BJP in any of the future polls in any city or district council. From this day onward, Sena will tread a new path
The gloves are now off in the battle for country’s richest civic body, Mumbai next month with the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray calling off the alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.
Thackeray in a party rally in the city announced that the Sena would no longer have an alliance with the BJP in any of the future polls, also indirectly putting a question mark on the future of the state government.
“I will not tie up with BJP in any of the future polls in any city or district council. From this day onward, Sena will tread a new path. For the last 25 years, we rotted in this alliance...if in the past Sena founder Bal Thackeray had not stood behind them (BJP), they would have been destroyed by now,’’ he said .
The Sena chief also referred to the BJP as a wild bull that had gotten out of controlled and now had to be tamed.
In the short term, the split translates into Sena and BJP facing off each other in the upcoming local elections of ten of the biggest cities in the state and 25 district councils, which account for 75% of the rural votebank.
In the long term, it points to an uncertain future for the Devendra Fadnavis government that is dependent on 63 Shiv Sena legislators. BJP with 122 seats falls short of a clear majority .
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis responded through a tweet saying: Transparent governance is our mantra. We will go with those who come with us or go ahead without them. But, a transformation is imminent.
BJP has been using transparent agenda as a means to attack Sena’s administration of the Mumbai civic body for the last two decades. In the last one year, Fadnavis has ordered probes in the road, desilting scam in the civic body indirectly holding Sena responsible for the mess in the megapolis.
The next one month is likely to see a bitter war between the former allies with Sena expected to take on the BJP over demonetisation while BJP responds with allegations of corruption.
How the parties fare in the Mumbai civic polls could decide the future of the state government. The results of the state’s mini assembly polls on February 23 will come just ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and could be indicative of BJP’s overall fate in the coming elections.