Shiv Sena-BJP Reunion? Uddhav Thackeray Is Coy, Nitin Gadkari Far More Direct

Mumbai:

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray refused to talk on Friday about who will be Mumbai's new mayor as he celebrated his party being number 1 again in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC with 84 seats. The BJP has just two less at 82, and none of them is close to the majority they need to get the Mayor's post. Majority or halfway of the 227-seat Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC is 114.

"We are celebrating today. I have not thought of anything right now," the Sena chief said at his Mumbai home Matoshree where massive crowds have gathered, adding that "discussions are on." He did not say with whom.

Food for thought was provided by union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who said today, "The situation now is that both parties (the BJP and Shiv Sena) have no option but to come together again." The decision of course, he said, has to be taken by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mr Thackeray. "Both are mature and I am sure they will take the right decision," Mr Gadkari told a Marathi TV channel, according to news agency PTI.

With the BMC a hung house, no one in Mumbai is ruling out yet another rapprochement between estranged allies Sena and the BJP, who contested separately after Uddhav Thackeray announced an end of the two-decade-old partnership ahead of the civic polls.

A campaign filled with harsh and bitter exchanges between leaders of the two parties followed, but after results were announced yesterday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said, "we are not foes."

The 46-year-old chief minister was the big winner with the BJP gaining a massive 51 seats in the BMC and winning eight out of the 10 Maharashtra municipalities where elections were held this week. He has said that a "core committee" of his party will meet to decide on next steps in the BMC, Asia's richest civic body with a 37,000 crore Budget.

No meeting has been called today. The BJP too is celebrating and big crowds have gathered outside Varsha, the home of Mr Fadnavis.

Even if all the five Independents back one of the parties, the Sena and the BJP will be short of 114. One Independent corporator Snehal More announced today that she is "number 85" in the Shiv Sena.

As arithmetical possibilities are discussed there is talk of the halfway mark coming down if the Congress with 32 seats decides to abstain and vote for neither in case there is a contest for the post of Mayor between the BJP and the Shiv Sena.

Senior state leaders of the Congress too will meet today to assess the party's newest debacle. The party, which held 52 seats, is now down to 31. Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party has won 9 and along with Raj Thackeray's MNS, was rendered inconsequential. The MNS has won 7 seats, 21 less than last time.