Mumbai: The BJP will not have a post-poll understanding with the Congress in the BMC, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday. He also reiterated that the party will not abandon the transparency agenda that propelled it to unprecedented success in the civic elections.
“We will take along those who come with us, but proceed without those who don’t come with us,” he said, addressing a rally at the State BJP office. The rally was held as part of the BJP’s Vijay Diwas celebrations in district headquarters across the country after civic polls victories in Maharashtra and Odisha.
“Let those who want to align with the Congress do so. We won’t stop them. Whether we bag power [in the BMC] or not, we will never go with the Congress,” Mr. Fadnavis said, in an apparent reference to reports that the Shiv Sena was considering a pact with the Congress to bag the Mayor’s post.
Though the Shiv Sena has emerged as the single largest party in the BMC with 84 seats, BJP is close behind with 82 seats. With the fractured mandate leaving neither the Sena nor the BJP in a position to rule in the country’s richest civic body on its own, both parties are exploring options to achieve the simple majority figure of 114 seats in the 227-member BMC.
The Sena’s tally rose to 87 on Friday after three independent corporators extended their support.
