BMC power play: Eknath Shinde signals hard bargain, BJP short of numbers; mayor’s post in focus

MUMBAI:Amid reports that he is playing hardball with BJP to share the BMC mayor’s post by rotation, deputy CM Eknath Shinde did nothing to set the rumours to rest on Sunday. “The mayor’s post will be with Mahayuti,” Shinde said.

BJP won 89 seats and Shiv Sena 29 in the BMC polls. BJP needs Shinde’s support to cross the halfway mark of 114. This gives him the golden chance to make demands, including the posts of mayor and chairman of standing committee, which makes financial decisions in India’s richest civic body.




However, Shinde has performed much worse than Shiv Sena (UBT), which won 65 seats. Shinde’s 29 corporators were moved to a hotel in Bandra on Saturday, leading to charges from the opposition that he feared they would be poached by Shiv Sena (UBT).

Dismissing the speculation that he was safeguarding his MLAs from being poached, he said, “Shiv Sena does not get scared. It scares others.”

Shinde visited the hotel on Sunday evening to meet the corporators and address them. “I told them that they have been given this opportunity because people voted for development. They should keep in touch with their wards,” he said.

Shinde said 19 of the 29 corporators elected were women. “The Ladki Bahin scheme has worked for us in assembly and municipal corporation polls.” He said his party had managed to win over 400 posts in 29 municipal corporations.