As a war of words broke out between the ruling saffron alliance partners on Wednesday, as senior Mumbai BJP leader and MP Kirit Somaiya announced that his party would go it alone in the February 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, in an effort to end what he called the “mafia raj” in the Shiv Sena-ruled civic body.
While Sena’s senior corporator Kishori Pednekar swiftly hit out at Somaiya for his allegations against her party’s leadership, the BJP leadership resorted to damage control exercise by indicating that the statement made by its city MP was not the party’s stand. However, the BJP did not come out with a formal statement in this regard till late in the evening.
However, Somaiya’s statement infused fresh strains in the relations between the Shiv Sena and BJP which have said off and on that they are not averse to contesting the BMC polls on their respective strengths.
The day began with Somaiya accusing the Shiv Sena of having converted the BMC into a “mafia den” and saying that unlike in many polls in the past when it had aligned with the Shiv Sena, the BJP would contest all the 227 seats in the civic body in alliance with a few smaller allies in the forth coming polls, which are being held for the first time after the recent delimitation of wards.
A known Shiva Sena baiter, Somaiya rubbed the Sena leadership the wrong way, by referring to massive corruption in the BMC and charging that “one family” had converted the civic body into a “mafia den”.
Without taking names, Somaiya trained the guns at the Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and party’s youth wing chief Aditya Thackeray. “The Shiv Sena in general and one family in particular has converted the BMC into a mafia den. The BJP along with a few smaller parties will contest all the 227 seats in the BMC, come out to power on our strength and end mafia raj in the civic body,” Somaiya said.
Taking a strong exception to Somaiya’s allegation that “one family”—read Thackerays – had converted the BMC into a “mafia den”, Sena’s Pednekar said: “Tell that bogus MP: He is talking too much. We are not the ones to set up dens. But, we do know how to bury people like Somaiya. Our party president Uddhav Thackerayji will make a formal announcement on whether we will go it alone in the polls or not”.
Replying to a question, Pednekar said: “We always contest the polls to win. Unlike the BJP, we do not take Mumbaikars for granted. We are very much with Mumbaikars”.
On the charge that the Thackeray family had converted the BMC into a “mafia den”, Pednekar said: “There have been so many attacks on Mumbai. People have not forgotten them. Mumbaikars as well as people across the state have full confidence in Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership. let face it, the Shiv Sena won as many as 63 seats in the Assembly polls without the support of any political party”.
The relations between the Sena and BJP have not been on the even keel, ever since the Shiv Sena joined the BJP-led government in the State on December 4, 2014. On its part, the Sena has never lost an opportunity to target the NDA government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues of public importance.
So much so that the relations between the two saffron alliance partners touched a new low when Sena President Uddhav Thackeray went to town on the occasion of his turning 50 years in July this year, saying that his party had “wasted” 25 years of its 50-year existence by being in alliance with the national party and its current senior ally in the state and at the Centre.
“In last June, we completed 50 years since our advent and half the time, which means 25 years, we were in alliance (with the BJP)…Twenty five years is a long time and we grew up by holding hands of each other...but the way certain things unfolded, including breaking up of alliance in previous (assembly) elections...now I feel that we as a party decayed while being alliance for 25 years,” Thackeray had said.
The strained relations between the two parties notwithstanding, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis maintains excellent rapport with Uddhav. There were many occasions in the recent past, when Fadnavis intervened and smoothened the ruffled feathers of the Sena leadership.
Given that the BJP has made no bones about it wanting to go it alone in the BMC polls, it remains to be seen if it will have an electoral tie-up with the Shiv Sena for the BMC polls.