Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray (File photo)
Days after the Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP, the latter on Sunday decided to contest the 2022 Mumbai civic body elections on its own. The Sena has been controlling the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body, since the last 30 years.
"The BJP has decided to contest the upcoming BMC elections on its own and come to power. We will have our own Mayor for sure. By January 1 next year, the BJP will complete most of its party-level appointments including the state president," state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said.
Currently, Sena corporator Kishori Pednekar is the Mayor of Mumbai.
Patil had succeeded Raosaheb Danve as the state BJP chief after the latter was inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet as a junior minister in June this year.
Patil is likely to get a full three year term in January next year, according to sources in the BJP.
In the BMC elections held in 2017, the BJP had made huge strides by winning 82 seats out of total 227 seats in the BMC, closing the gap with the Sena which bagged 86 seats.
Later, six corporators of the MNS joined the Sena taking its total to 92. The Congress and the NCP have 30 and 9 corporators, respectively.
The BJP-Sena had fought the October Assembly polls together, winning 161 seats jointly in the 288-member House.
However, a stalemate on the sharing of the CM's post led to the break up of the alliance, leading to the Sena joining hands with Congress and NCP to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.
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