The Shiv Sena faction of Uddhav Thackeray may throw its hat into the ring for the BMC mayoral election even though the BJP and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena have a comfortable majority.
The mayoral election is scheduled on February 11 in a general body meeting of all the newly elected 227 corporators. The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats, followed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) with 65 seats. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has secured 29 seats, while the Congress has bagged 24, AIMIM eight, Raj Thackeray's MNS six and the rest by smaller parties.
The BJP is yet to finalise its mayoral candidate, with the names of several women corporators doing the rounds. The deputy mayor post will be given to the Shiv Sena as part of the alliance. The Shiv Sena is yet to finalise its candidate for the post.
Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday held a closed door meeting with senior Shiv Sena corporators where they discussed the potential candidates for the mayor and deputy mayor posts against the BJP and Shiv Sena in the BMC. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also issued a circular asking all its elected 65 corporators to be present in the BMC on Saturday when the mayor and deputy mayor candidates will be announced and nominations will be filed.
Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray had said that if God wishes, his party will again have a mayor. However, it looks like God may not be wishing for it this time.
A political observer said there are very few chances that anything will change as the BJP is set to get its first mayor in Mumbai. “Both the BJP and Shiv Sena have a comfortable majority, so there is no question of Shiv Sena (UBT) getting this top post. Therefore, there is unlikely to be any surprise in the election for the mayor's post,” he added.