News Analysis India

Tag: BMC polls

  • All is not well in MVA? Congress to contest solo in BMC polls

    Express News Service

    MUMBAI:  The Shiv Sena and the NCP are set to join hands for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections (BMC) scheduled in February 2022 while the third partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress, will contest solo.

    According to sources, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar had a series of meetings where the issue was discussed.

    “We have asked to identify the wards where each party candidate stands a strong chance. Our present strength in the 227-member corporation is nine. We can fight on 50 seats while the Shiv Sena can contest the rest. The Marathi voters are with the Sena, which, combined with Muslim, Dalit and NCP-loyalist votes, can deliver victory on many seats,” said an NCP leader.

    The Shiv Sena currently holds 99 seats in the BMC. 

    “In the 2017 polls, the BJP put in a lot of effort and won 84 seats against their previous tally of 35 but the Sena finally managed to bag the BMC. This time, the party did not want to take any chance and therefore decided to tie up with NCP. The NCP may not have a major base here, but it has certain loyalists that will surely add up to the total tally,” said a Sena leader.

    He added that there could be no alliance with the Congress since it was difficult to allot seats to the grand old party as per its demand. 

    Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap said the party had decided to fight alone. 

    “We have already started our preparations. Our membership drive is also in full swing. The Congress has a major base in Mumbai. So, we are confident of winning many seats. Rahul Gandhi will be in Mumbai on December 28 to kickstart  the BMC campaign,” Jagtap added.

    Not taking risk this time

    The Shiv Sena currently holds 99 seats in the BMC. In the 2017 polls, the BJP won 84 seats against their previous tally of 35.

    This time, the Sena does not want to take any chance and has decided to join hands with the NCP.

  • Uddhav government to double hike for Marathi degree holders in BMC

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, the Maharashtra government has cleared the proposal of the Shiv Sena-run civic body for giving double increment to the employees of the civic body who are graduates in Marathi. 

    The BMC wants to promote Marathi at the workplace. The urban development ministry of Eknath Shinde approved this decision recently to woo the Marathi voters ahead of the BMC elections.  In BMC, more than one lakh people are engaged in various departments.

    The Corporation will go polls in February next year. In 2017, the BJP gave a close fight to the Sena which managed to retain power, even though it failed to win a simple majority in the house of 227 In 2011, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had tabled a proposal to give double increments to the civic employees who cleared their post-graduation in Marathi literature. The then BMC commissioner, Jairaj Pathak, had passed the proposal that aimed to make the civic body’s functioning ‘100% Marathi’.

    However, with the proposed implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission putting a strain on the civic body’s resources, the BMC had no option but to scrap Pathak’s plan. The civic body had to roll back its decision in 2012 to award double increments to postgraduates in Marathi. The withdrawal of these special pay-hikes affected over 1,000 employees who had enrolled in correspondence courses to avail of the special offer.

    After the announcement of the scheme, all the engineers, doctors and fourth-class employees had also enrolled themselves for post-graduation in Marathi literature. The double increment decision was halted again in 2018. However, it has again been proposed ahead of the BMC polls in 2022.

    Resource crunchThe civic body had to roll back its decision in 2012 to award double increments. The withdrawal of these hikes had affected over 1,000 employees

  • Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil meets Raj Thackeray amid talks of poll tie-up

    By Express News Service

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Friday met MNS president Raj Thackeray, giving rise to speculation about a possible tie-up as elections to the Mumbai civic body are due next year.

    Speaking to reporters after meeting Thackeray at the latter’s residence here, Patil said the alliance was not on the cards at the moment.

    “Raj told me that he does not hold any grudge against the non-Marathi people living in Mumbai. We still have some political differences and there is no proposal to join hands ahead of the polls at this moment,” the BJP leader said.

    To a question, Patil said, “I have told Raj Thackeray that the people of this state want you to be their leader, but you ought to change their perception of you. MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said he can not disclose what transpired during the meeting, but “we will be happy if the two parties joined hands.”

    The Shiv Sena, headed by Raj’s estranged cousin and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, has been controlling the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for over three decades.

    The MNS had won seven seats in the last BMC polls but six of its corporators later joined the Shiv Sena. The Sena won 97 seats while the BJP won 82 and Congress 31.

    Speaking to the media in Pune recently, Raj Thackeray, who took a strident anti-North Indian line after leaving the Shiv Sena over 15 years ago, had said he was not going to change his political stand for electoral benefits. “We (his party and the BJP) could agree on a non-aggression pact,” he had said.

    (With agency inputs)

  • Sena’s focus on big-ticket projects ahead of BMC polls

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: Expediting a slew of big-ticket infrastructure projects and poaching from the Opposition ranks form the bedrock of the Shiv Sena’s election strategy in the run-up to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls next year. 

    The ruling dispensation seeks to ward off the threat posed by the BJP, which gave the Shiv Sena a run for its money in 2017 BMC polls, by clearing infrastructure projects and launching a massive outreach through Thackeray scion Aditya, who has been a regular at BMC meetings in the past few months.

    Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is betting on BDD Chawl Redevelopment scheme to yield rich dividends as locals stand to get bigger houses on a sprawling 93 acres in the heart of Mumbai.  He has set the ball rolling on other projects like coastal roads to connect the suburbs to Nariman Point, while easing bottlenecks. He is slated to inaugurate a flyover, connecting Ghatkopar to Mankhurd, to cut down on travel time on jouney between eastern suburbs and south Mumbai.

    Meanwhile, youth leader Varun Desai has been tasked with bringing young leaders from other parties. Through his efforts, Maharashtra Nannirman Sena leader and president of its student wing Aditya Shirodkar joined the Sena. Shirodkar is also a business partner of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. A few days ago, BJP leader and Goregaon stalwart Sameer Desai joined Sena, a defection for which Desai was credited.

    “It was a very close match between the BJP and Shiv Sena in 2017. We do not want an encore. Hence, we have developed a multi-pronged strategy,” a Shiv Sena leader told TNIE, adding that winning the BMC polls is a matter of prestige for Shiv Sena. In the 2017 BMC elections, the BJP gave a tough fight to Shiv Sena by grabbing a historical 84 seats out of the 227. However, Sena had managed to pass the post with 87.