The political temperatures began to shoot up in Mumbai ahead of the crucial Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls on Thursday, as the civic administration sealed offices of all the political parties, following a ruckus between the factions led by the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
In what is being seen as an unprecedented development, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner also ordered the sealing of chairmen’s offices of the various civic committees. The development came after the civic leaders of Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Eknath Shinde –led Shiv Sena (known as the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena—BSS) attempted to gain control of the party offices in the BMC.
The civic headquarters witnessed as massive showdown between the factions of the Shiv Sena as the Shinde Sena leaders attempted physically to take over the parent Shiv Sena’s office at the BMC on Wednesday evening. The stand-off between the corporators and leaders of the two Shiv Sena factions after the BSS ex-corporators met Mumbai Municipal Commissioner I S Chagal and staked claim for the original Shiv Sena’s party office.
After the Shinde-led former corporators’ delegation, the Uddhav-led Sena’s former corporators confronted the rival corporators when the latter tried to enter the office of the Sena’s original party office.
On their part, the Sena (U)’s former corporators shouted slogans of “Khokhe, Khokhe” against the BSS ex-corporators and accused them of trespassing into and attempting to ‘grab’ their party office illegally. The Shinde Sena leaders raised counter slogans.
The Sena(UBT) and BSS leaders clashed and indulged in fisticuffs to establish right over the office of the parent party at the civic headquarters ahead of the BMC elections. A team of police personnel that arrived on the scene immediately afterwards and the BMC security quelled the clashed and removed them out of the BMC headquarters. Taking serious cognisance of the clashes between the former corporators and leaders of the two factions of the Shiv Sena, the Municipal Commissioner directed the administration to seal all the party as also the offices of civic committees’ chairmen. After the sealing of all the party offices at the BMC, a delegation of the Uddhav-led tried to meet the Municipal Commissioner I S Chagala.
Since he did not give them immediate appointment, the Uddhav Sena leaders staged a sit-in dharna in front of the Commissioner’s office. Later, Chagla met and received their memorandum requesting them to re-allot their party office.
The Shinde-led Sena leaders subsequently met the civic chief and submitted him memorandum, staking a claim over the ruling Shiv Sena at the BMC
On his part, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut slammed the BMC Commissioner Chahal’s decision, dubbing it as “high-handedness” and demanded to know under what rules he had ordered rthe sealing of the party offices at the BMC.
The developments at the BMC should be seen in the backdrop of the rebellion within the ruling Shiv Sena in June this year, when then former senior minister in the Sena-led MVA government walked out of the parent parent, joined hands with the Opposition BJP and formed a new Government in the State.