Shiv Sena-BJP impasse continue on third day

Three days after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls threw up a fractured result, the political impasse continued on Sunday with neither Shiv Sena nor BJP taking any overt step to cobble up a ruling combine.

There was speculation that Sena may seek Congress’ support but the latter yesterday said there was no question of supporting the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. RSS ideologue M G Vaidya on Sunday suggested that BJP and Shiv Sena, who are still the ruling allies in the state government, should share the Mayor’s post for two-and-a-half years each.

Sena, being the single largest party in the BMC, should get the Mayor’s post first, Vaidya added. NCP chief Sharad Pawar, meanwhile, said his party will join hands with Congress in all the 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 strong thinking in the party’s state unit that it should consider the helping Shiv Sena out, as a tactical move to widen the rift between the Sena and the BJP. However, senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam had ruled out such a move yesterday.Nirupam, however, did claim that Sena leaders had been “in touch with” Congress. 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. Sena yesterday claimed that some Independent corporators were with it and have taken its tally to 89.