Mumbai to have Mahayuti Mayor, says Eknath Shinde

Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Sunday after interacting with newly-elected Shiv Sena members of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), who have been shifted to a hotel.

Shinde's statement coincides with rumours that his party may relocate 29 corporators-designate to a hotel following the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance's slim victory in the most recent municipal elections.

Shinde made fun of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) by claiming that voters had prioritised development over sentimental concerns.

"Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor. Even neighbouring cities like Kalyan-Dombivli will have a Mahayuti mayor," he told reporters.

Rejecting allegations that the corporators were being kept under watch at a luxury hotel, Shinde said the Shiv Sena was fearless.

"The new corporators will get a common platform to interact at the hotel. I wanted to meet them as we are registering the group of 29 corporators with the Konkan divisional commissioner," he said.

Amid speculation in political circles over Shiv Sena's stand vis-à-vis the next mayor of Mumbai, party leader and minister Uday Samant said the civic body polls were contested as the Mahayuti alliance.

"The Shiv Sena will not do what the earlier Shiv Sena (headed by Uddhav Thackeray when he allied with the Congress after the 2019 polls) did," he said.

In response to a question concerning party demands for the mayoral position, Samant stated, "Every party wants the main post, and Bal Thackeray's (birth) centenary year gives that demand a different dimension." Samant added that many corporators would become unreachable and that people would realise whose party they belonged to, taking a jab at the opposition.

Speaking to the recently elected members, Shinde urged them to take advantage of the chance to serve the public and stated that the Shiv Sena (UBT) had been rejected.

In order to make sure that their wards become model constituencies, he urged them to create development action plans tailored to each ward. Additionally, Shinde warned them not to engage in any behaviour that would damage the party's reputation.

"People have rejected the Shiv Sena (UBT) and those who oppose development," he said.

Shinde noted that the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the civic polls, followed by the Shiv Sena, calling the results a precursor to the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.

The BJP and Shinde-led Sena combination secured a resounding majority in the 227-member BMC with 89 and 29 seats, respectively, in the recently ended civic elections. While its ally MNS won six seats, the Sena (UBT) gained sixty-five.

Shinde also urged newly elected Sena members to pursue initiatives such as "pagdi-free Mumbai," a strategy to reform the outdated and troublesome pagdi (tenant-ownership) structure to free up stalled redevelopments.