Mumbai: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) said on Friday that “all options are open” for the party in the mayoral election to be held on March 8.
“No one should take us for granted (over mayoral elections). No one is impure for us,” the party’s ex-MLA and senior leader Nitin Sardesai told The Hindu , when asked whether the party would support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Shiv Sena.
Mr. Sardesai clarified, however, that the party would ensure that the next Mayor is Marathi. “This is the one thing on which there will be no compromise from our side,” he said.
Though the MNS won only seven seats in the BMC polls, the party’s corporators have become crucial in the close contest between the BJP and Shiv Sena for the Mayor’s post.
The Sena emerged as the single-largest party with 84 corporators, closely followed by BJP with 82. While the Sena has received the support of four independent corporators till now, the tally has reached 88. The BJP, with support from Akhil Bharatiya Sena’s Geeta Gawli, has 83 corporators, and the party leaders are claiming the support of one more independent corporator.
With Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) claiming they will neither support BJP nor Sena, and preparing to contest the Mayor’s poll, the MNS’s decision could swing the result in either party’s favour.
The MNS extending support to BJP would mean the latter having a Mayor in Mumbai without any help from Sena for the first time. At the same time, if it decides to abstain from the voting, it will help the Sena.
When asked whether any of the parties have approached them for support, Mr. Sardesai said no one has done so yet.
