Mumbai:
At a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up to once again take on its estranged ally the Shiv Sena for the 2022 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, its former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is busy giving testimonies of his personal friendship with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. On the other hand, his wife Amruta Fadnavis in a tweet has targeted the Sena terming it hypocrite, wishing Sena speedy recovery and accusing it of commission over tree cutting proposal in Aurangabad municipal corporation.
In the 2017 BMC elections, the BJP had come within whiskers distance of dethroning its former ally the Shiv Sena. This time around taking advantage of internal organizational elections, the Mumbai BJP has renewed its resolve to wrest the most coveted civic body in the country. The BJP apparently seems to be sending mixed signals.
It may be recalled that in the 2017 BMC elections, the BJP coming from behind had almost pulled off a coup of sorts giving a scare to the Sena. The Sena had then won 84 seats, while the BJP won 82 seats. It is altogether different matter that 6 of the 7 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) broke away and joined the Sena, giving it a much wider margin with the BJP and stabilizing its administrative grip on the civic body which it has been ruling for last more than two decades.
Speaking to newspersons after the Mumbai BJP unit meeting, former Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar pointed out that in the recent 2019 Assembly elections the BJP won maximum of 17 assembly seats in Mumbai. It may be recalled that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had retained the three Lok Sabha seats it had won in the 2014 elections.
Referring to the process of organizational elections that are underway, the senior BJP leader hinted at the possibility of the party repeating or renominating its existing BMC ward, Assembly, Lok Sabha and District unit president’s in Mumbai, given the success they had achieved in the recent elections. He claimed that the BJP has achieved the number one party as far as Mumbai political standings were concerned.
Shelar remarked that the preparatory ground work for the 2024 BMC elections has begun in right earnest. In the 2017 BMC elections, the finally tally in the 227 member civic body then was thus – Sena 84, BJP 82, Congress 31, NCP 9, MNS 7, Samajwadi Party 6, MIM 2, Others and Independent’s 6.
It was rather ironical to find that Amruta Fadnavis, wife of BJP leader of opposition in legislative assembly, Devendra Fadnavis went hammer and tongs after the Sena over reports of another Sena ruled civic body in Aurangabad needing permission to cut 1,000 trees for the memorial of late Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray.
In her tweet that raised quite a few eyebrows, she slammed the Sena terming it as hypocrite, wishing Sena a speedy recovery from the hypocrisy disease, she added “tree cutting at ur convenience or allowing cutting only when you earn commission – unpardonable sins!!”
All this, when her husband, Devendra Fadnavis in televised interview to a private news channel, was still harking on his personal friendship with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He even expressed doubts whether there was a deliberate ploy to break the Sena away from the BJP.
