Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that Mumbai will get a BJP mayor as the saffron party will not share the post with its ally, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Almost a fortnight after the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, uncertainty hangs over who will be the mayor.
Speaking to reporters, Raut said even if the Sena led by Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Shinde was sulking as it wanted the post, it had no options. The Shiv Sena will get a couple of other posts in the civic body after raising the matter with the central leadership of the BJP, he said.
"They (BJP) will have their mayor in Mumbai," said the Rajya Sabha MP.
Leaders of the Shinde-led party have said that the mayor should be from the Sena as 2026 marks the birth centenary of Bal Thackeray, the founder of the undivided Shiv Sena.
In the tightly contested BMC elections on January 15, the BJP won 89 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray won 65, Shiv Sena led by Shinde got 29, Congress 24, and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena got six seats, among other parties. No single party won majority in the 227-ward civic body.