Mumbai: A secret pact between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena came to the fore on Tuesday when the Shiv Sena got its official candidate to withdraw to let MNS bag the chairperson’s post in L ward.
The Shiv Sena with five corporators in the ward, could have easily bagged the post. The MNS had just three corporators. But Sena candidate Pravina Morajkar and Nationalist Congress Party’s Sahida Khan opted out of the race. The MNS with its seven corporators had not supported the Shiv Sena in the mayor’s election.
The new chairperson Dilip Lande attributed “his miraculous victory” to party chief Raj Thackeray. Mr. Lande said all parties backed his candidature resulting in his victory. This was part of the elections for eight ward committees that took place on Tuesday. The BJP won four posts and the Shiv Sena bagged posts in three wards.
Sena’s former mayor Milind Vaidya became the chairperson of G-N ward and Sanjay Agaldhare won unopposed from H-E and H- W ward. Ujwala Modak from the BJP was declared winner in K-E ward after Congress’s Sushma Rai withdrew her candidature. In K-W ward, the BJP’s Yogiraj Dabhadkar won unopposed. In M-W ward, Sushma Sawant of BJP won the seat, while Sena’s Tukaram Patil won in N ward. Sumita Kamble of the BJP became chairperson from S and T wards.
The election of M-E ward will be held on March 25. This marks the complete wipeout of the Congress and the NCP from the ward committee posts. So, far the Congress had unsuccessfully contested for chairperson of only ward: A, B and E ward. In other wards, it had failed to even put up candidates.
