In a day of palace intrigue, six Maharashtra Navnirman Sena corporators defected to Shiv Sena on Friday, increasing its tally from 84 to 90. This led to heartburn for Sena's partner in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP, that was aiming to stake claim for the mayoral seat following its victory in the Bhandup bypoll on Thursday. This was to take control of the Rs 37,000 crore BMC budget.
In a day of palace intrigue, six Maharashtra Navnirman Sena corporators defected to Shiv Sena on Friday, increasing its tally from 84 to 90. This led to heartburn for Sena's partner in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP, that was aiming to stake claim for the mayoral seat following its victory in the Bhandup bypoll on Thursday. This was to take control of the Rs 37,000 crore BMC budget.
Sena and BJP, despite being partners in ruling alliance in the state, are engaged in a pitched battle for supremacy in the prestigious BMC. After a bitter fight in civic polls earlier last year, both had joined hands grudgingly but BJP made its ambitions clear after a victory in Bhandup bypoll that raised its number to 83. BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who has been making severe allegations of corruption against Sena, had claimed BJP will soon have its own mayor in Mumbai.
Alarmed, Sena moved quickly and engineered defection in MNS, getting six of its seven corporators to switch sides. Somaiya termed the defection as malafide practice, saying the corporators had agreed to move to Sena as they were offered huge amounts of money. He even shot off a letter to the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) seeking inquiry into the switch.
A jubilant Uddhav Thackeray, however, refuted allegations saying the MNS corporators had expressed their wish to come back to Shiv Sena and said this was 'Ghar Wapasi' for Archana Bhalerao, Parameshwar Kadam, Dilip Lande, Ashwini Matekar, Harshala More and Datta Narwankar.
The Sena chief went on to warn his alliance partner, "If Sena can do this in just one day, I am sure they have now understood what Sena's strength is."
How the drama unfolded
The action started as MNS office-bearers found six of their seven corporators had gone incommunicado. Party president Raj Thackeray was apprised of it immediately. Subsequently, an emergency meeting was held at Raj's Dadar residence Krishna Kunj, where the party leaders realized Sena was poaching its corporators. MNS general secretary Shirish Sawant wrote to Konkan Divisional Commissioner Jagdish Patil alleging "some political parties in Maharashtra had given different temptations and inducements to lure some (MNS) members to establish a separate group."
Sawant also wrote to the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) alleging that financial inducements running into crores were offered to their corporators and sought a probe into their properties.
Around the same time, Somaiya too shot off the letter to SEC making similar allegations. He went on to add that Sena had abducted these corporators and they were in their custody. The damage to MNS, however, was done already.
Why did the MNS corporators switch sides?
Sources within MNS told DNA, "There is anger in the MNS over a coterie surrounding Raj Thackeray. MNS group leader Dilip Lande felt slighted that despite being a veteran in BMCs politics, former corporator Sandeep Deshpande was made MNS general secretary, even though his wife lost the BMC polls from Dadar."
The six MNS corporators are likely to be accommodated in BMC ward committees. MLC Anil Parab said that the corporators would soon merge their group into Shiv Sena.
For the record, the defected corporators told media they had united for the sake of the Marathi Manoos. Lande cited Somaiya's claim that BJP would have its own mayor soon, and said that they wanted to keep a Marathi mayor in Aamchi Mumbai.
'Not a one-day operation'
Shiv Sena sources insist that the operation did not take place in just one day. "MLC Anil Parab, who is usually low profile and mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar were working on these corporators for over three months," said a leader. He, however, confessed that the party moved the operation on war-footing after Somaiya boasted of taking over mayoral seat soon.
Why it is so important for Sena fortunes in BMC?
The defection will not only allow Sena to keep its mayor, but will also add to its tally in Standing Committee by one more member. Standing Committee is one of the most powerful decision-making bodies in BMC and is akin to state cabinet. As of now, both Sena and BJP have 10 members each.
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