Mumbai: The saffron lanterns lining Mahapalika Marg and Shiv Sena flags festooning the BMC building told the story on Wednesday, where the outcome was a given. The alley connecting two civic buildings was dominated by a huge statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji, while Shiv Sainiks in saffron headgear celebrated the reassertion of their hold on a city that has returned them to power every time in the past two-odd decades.
As the stirring beats of traditional drums, the trilling of trumpets and the cacophony of lezim bands rent the air, Sainiks did not limit their sights to the civic body, and promised to win big at the Assembly and Parliament levels as well. “This victory is just the trailer,” Vilas Surve, a party office bearer, told the cheering crowds.
It was a Sena family show, with the Thackeray clan including party chief Uddhav, wife Rashmi and sons Aditya and Tejas waving to the crowds from the BMC headquarter’s balcony. Sena banners with pictures of three generation of Thackerays — founder Bal Thackeray, son Uddhav and grandson Aditya – thanked Mumbaikars for their support. Uddhav held a padyatra from the BMC to Hutatma Chowk later in the evening. While he chose to walk, Sena corporators were taken in an open bus.
BJP-Sena strife continues
Even though the BJP supported the Sena’s mayoral candidate, the two parties are clearly not on the best of terms. In his first address after the win on Wednesday, Uddhav thanked Sainiks for putting up a fight against a “big party with power and huge campaigning capacity”, and promised that the Sena’s fight against “false promises” will continue.
The crowd gathered outside the civic headquarters frequently shouted slogans in Hindi, that were clearly meant to take a dig at the BJP. The marathon six-hour civic meeting also brought the uneasy equations between the parties to the fore, beginning with a slogan war between Sena and BJP corporators.
