According to Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis declined to appoint a BJP mayor to Mumbai after the 2017 municipal elections in order to support the Shiv Sena.
The CM claimed on Saturday at a gathering of the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) members here that Uddhav Thackeray paid him back by breaking the coalition with the BJP two years later. After the faction of the Nationalist Congress Party headed by Ajit Pawar joined his administration a week ago, Shinde also tried to allay the worries of his party’s members.
In politics, certain equations must be created. Ajit Pawar has endorsed our administration as well after seeing the developments (undertaken by his government),” he said. Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena MLAs staged a coup against Uddhav Thackeray, the party’s leader and then-chief minister, in June 2022. They mentioned Ajit Pawar’s failure to appropriate cash for their areas as one of the key reasons why.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi administration, headed by Thackeray, was overthrown as a result of the uprising. From 1997 until 2022, the Shiv Sena was in charge of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The wealthiest civic body in the nation is up for election in the next year.
“In the 2017 municipal body elections, the BJP came close to winning the BMC. The CM was Devendra Fadnavis. We have been in charge of the BMC, according to our head (Uddhav Thackeray), thus it shouldn’t leave our grip, Shinde recalled.
But if Devendra Fadnavis had made the decision, the BJP would have been the mayor. However, I reminded him that we collaborate in the government. “You leave Mumbai (for the Shiv Sena) because our boss’ (Thackeray’s) heart is in Mumbai,” he remarked.
I asked Devendra ji to leave the expedition for Mumbai, but how was this kindness reciprocated (by Thackeray)? Shinde enquired. The Shiv Sena won 84 seats in the hotly fought 2017 Mumbai local body elections, with the BJP not far behind with 82 seats. Although no party was able to secure a majority, the Shiv Sena was successful in electing its mayor.
Despite this, Thackeray, according to Shinde, disregarded “40-50 calls” when the process of forming a government started after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections and ultimately formed a coalition with the NCP and Congress.
“Over the course of the previous seven years, Devendra Fadnavis has never once mentioned that he had the chance to win the BMC and install a BJP mayor but instead chose to hand it over to the Shiv Sena. Who therefore is unappreciative? Speaking back at Thackeray, Shinde remarked.
