Three days after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls threw up a fractured result, the political impasse continued on Sunday with neither the Shiv Sena nor the BJP taking any overt step to cobble together a ruling combine.
There was speculation that the Sena may seek the Congress’s support, but the latter said on Saturday that there was no question of supporting the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.
On Sunday, RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya suggested that BJP and Shiv Sena, who are allies in the ruling dispensation in the State, should share the Mayor’s post for two-and-a-half years each. The Sena, being the single largest party in the BMC, should get the Mayor’s post first, Mr. Vaidya added.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar, meanwhile, said his party will join hands with the Congress in all municipal corporations and zilla Parishads where elections were held this month. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already ruled out the BJP seeking Congress’ help in the BMC.
Congress sources had said there was considerable support for helping the Shiv Sena out as a tactical move to widen the rift between the Sena and the BJP. Senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who had ruled out any such move on Saturday, claimed Sena leaders had been in touch with the Congress.
The Sena won 84 seats in the February 21 election to the 227-member BMC, the country’s richest civic body. BJP was close behind, winning 82 seats, while Congress was a distant third with 31 seats.
Since 114 seats are required for reaching the simple majority mark, all eyes were on Congress. However, the party sources said it was wary of siding with ‘communal’ forces, especially when it had made secularism its main plank in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
The Sena on Saturday claimed that some independent corporators were with it and have taken its tally to 89.
