Uddhav vs Fadnavis: Mumbai civic poll contest to get bitter
MUMBAI: After ruling the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) together for more than two decades, the BJP and the Shiv Sena are headed for a bitter fight in their bid to get the bigger piece of the BMC pie.
And a day after the Sena pulled the rug from under the saffron alliance for the upcoming Mumbai civic elections, all eyes are now on CM Devendra Fadnavis, who will address at the BJP’s show of strength rally at Goregaon on Saturday. Fadnavis is expected to set the tone for the BJP campaign. The bitter fight could also impact the functioning of the BJP-led government in the state, with the Sena already indicating it will become more aggressive.
Sources from both the parties told HT that the prestigious Mumbai civic polls will now be played out as Fadnavis versus Thackeray and the BJP versus the Sena and not as a local election involving ward-level candidates and civic issues. The third party in the contest and Opposition so far, the Congress, may be relegated to the side in this battle. Ironically, both Fadnavis and Thackeray, over the past few weeks, were trying to work out a statewide alliance so that the two ruling partners in the state have an upper hand in the civic and district council elections that are touted as mini-assembly elections because they would cover 80% of the voters in the state.
“Fadnavis will address a gathering of polling booth-level party workers. But the address will be for the entire city. It is clear that transparency, non-corruption and development will form our central plank in the coming election. The CM will also directly or indirectly answer Thackeray’s accusations at the same venue,’’ said a BJP functionary.
The BJP went into a close huddle on Friday evening to finalise the strategy for its campaign, which will be headlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Fadnavis. It is, however, not clear if Fadnavis, who was keen on a saffron alliance to ensure stability to his government, will directly take on Thackeray or attack the Sena.
He is, however, expected to put the blame of the break up on the former ally.