Shiv Sena ups ante in run-up to BMC polls; says '15-20 BJP corporators ready to jump ship'

In a big claim ahead of the 2022 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, Shiv Sena Deputy Leader Yashwant Jadhav asserted that 15-20 BJP corporators are ready to jump ship to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. Without revealing any names, the Standing Committee Chairman told the media on Monday that some BJP members are miffed with their party leadership. While maintaining that Shiv Sena doesn't believe in engineering defections, he hinted that the corporators of the saffron party might switch allegiance in December. However, BJP's Group Leader in BMC Prabhakar Shinde denied this claim. 

Shiv Sena leader Yashwant Jadhav remarked, "At least 15-20 BJP corporators are in touch with Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena is a ruling party and we don't indulge in the politics of defection. But we give protection to those coming to us seeking justice after being treated in an unjust manner. We respect them."

Debunking this claim, BJP's Prabhakar Shinde stressed. "It doesn't cost anything to dream. The Standing Committee chairman should keep dreaming. I am saying with confidence that not a single corporator of BJP will defect." 

Neck-to-neck battle between Shiv Sena & BJP

BMC is considered Asia’s richest civic body with an annual budget of nearly Rs.37,000 crore. Shiv Sena has been a formidable force in the civic elections even when NCP-Congress was in power in the state. In the 2017 civic polls, BJP and Shiv Sena contested separately as they could not agree to the seat-sharing formula. Reportedly, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had threatened to pull out from the BJP government both in Maharashtra as well as the Centre at that juncture.

Thus, the 2017 BMC election became a prestige battle for the Sena and BJP. The results brought in more cheer for BJP than the Sena as the former secured 82 seats, an increase of 51 seats from the previous election. Moreover, the Shiv Sena fell way short of the majority winning just 84 seats. On the other hand, Congress, NCP, and MNS won 31, 7 and 6 seats respectively.

After hectic negotiations, BJP decided not to challenge the Sena on the Mayor’s position. Thus, Shiv Sena's Kishori Pednekar and Suhas Wadkar won the election to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively on November 22, 2017. While the divide between the two allies continued to grow over the years, the Sena consolidated its position in the BMC when all 6 winning candidates of the MNS joined the party.