Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena signalled a truce on Saturday after Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the BJP would not contest the mayoral and deputy mayoral poll at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Fadnavis also said BJP’s municipal corporators would vote for the Shiv Sena nominees in the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections. The BJP would not contest elections to the BMC standing committee, which in effect runs the civic administration, and any of the civic committees as well, Fadnavis said. He added that the BJP would not play the role of the opposition at BMC and not claim the leader of opposition’s post too.
“The BJP is committed to the agenda of transparency and that’s the message for us in the historic civic mandate. We don’t want to run Mumbai and we are not interested in power. We want Mumbaikars to run Mumbai on the agenda of transparency,” Fadnavis said at a press conference.
Soon after Fadnavis virtually paved the way for Shiv Sena to elect its mayor, deputy mayor, and standing committee chairman, the Sena too showed signs of thaw. Senior Sena leader and Maharashtra’s transport minister Diwakar Raote said the Sena welcomed the chief minister’s statement. “We are happy that the chief minister has accepted Mumbaikars’ mandate and the BJP will support our nominees,” Raote said.
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena’s Vishwanath Mahadeshwar and Hemangi Waralikar filed their nominations for the mayor’s and deputy mayor’s elections respectively. In the 227-member BMC, the Sena has 84 corporators and it has received support from two independent corporators. The BJP has 82. Congress has 31, NCP 9, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 7.
Fadnavis, however, made it clear that the BJP corporators would keep up the pressure on the Shiv Sena’s civic administration to deliver. “The BJP corporators would serve as the guardians of transparency in the BMC. It is true that the Sena won just two seats more than the BJP in the elections but Mumbai also wholeheartedly voted for BJP’s agenda of transparency,” Fadnavis said. He added that the BJP corporators would support Sena on issues.
The chief minister also announced steps to ensure transparency and accountability in civic administration. He said the BJP would soon constitute a three-member committee comprising senior IAS officers to find out the various aspects of civic governance where transparency and accountability could be instilled.
“This committee will submit its report to the government in three months and then government would take decision on the report,” he said. “This is being done to ensure transparency. The BJP has been rewarded by Mumbaikars with 82 seats, a jump of 50 seats over its 2012 performance. People want us to deliver on the agenda of transparency,” he said.
