<p>Mumbai: At a time when the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS combine has made Marathi-manoos its focal point of campaign in the run up to the Maharashtra civic bodies election as asserted have a Marathi Mayor in BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP found itself cornered when senior leader Kripashankar Singh asserted that efforts would be made to ensure the election of a Hindi-speaking mayor in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).</p><p>Singh, a veteran North Indian politician and former minister of state for home, had switched over from the Congress to the BJP a few years ago. </p>.Political ideologies seem to blur as Maharashtra gears up for civic polls.<p>In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP fielded him from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, however, he lost the election. </p><p>"We will elect enough corporators so that a person from the north Indian community occupies the Mayor's chair,” Singh said in reference to MBMC.</p><p>However, as soon as his statement went viral, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-led MNS, which are contesting the elections in many corporations together including Mumbai, slammed him even as the BJP distanced itself from its leader’s statement. </p><p>Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut lashed out at the BJP. </p><p>“The BJP wants to hurt the Marathi people. With Kripashankar Singh, they are trying to spoil the atmosphere of Mumbai. Kripashankar Singh is not the leader of Hindi-speaking people here...They are doing vote bank politics, which we don’t want,” said Raut, who is a close aide of Uddhav and a friend of Raj and played a key role in their rapprochement. </p><p>“The statement by Singh was not done without any purpose but it was a strategy to create an atmosphere among outsiders against Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS. Following this, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Samrat Choudhary, respectively, would be brought in to campaign for the BJP for the civic body polls…The BJP has decided not to have a Marathi mayor in Mumbai or anywhere else. This is BJP's agenda,” he said. </p><p>Former leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who is a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, said that through Singh, the BJP has stated the party position. “While people from any part of the country can live and work here, there is no doubt that this area is mainly for the local Marathi population,” he said. </p><p>“Come what may, the Mayor of Mumbai will be a Marathi,” said MNS leader Avinash Jadhav, who heads the party’s unit in the twin districts of Palghar and Thane. “I say again…Mumbai Mayor will be a Marathi and ours,” he added.</p>
<p>Mumbai: At a time when the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS combine has made Marathi-manoos its focal point of campaign in the run up to the Maharashtra civic bodies election as asserted have a Marathi Mayor in BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the BJP found itself cornered when senior leader Kripashankar Singh asserted that efforts would be made to ensure the election of a Hindi-speaking mayor in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).</p><p>Singh, a veteran North Indian politician and former minister of state for home, had switched over from the Congress to the BJP a few years ago. </p>.Political ideologies seem to blur as Maharashtra gears up for civic polls.<p>In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP fielded him from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, however, he lost the election. </p><p>"We will elect enough corporators so that a person from the north Indian community occupies the Mayor's chair,” Singh said in reference to MBMC.</p><p>However, as soon as his statement went viral, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-led MNS, which are contesting the elections in many corporations together including Mumbai, slammed him even as the BJP distanced itself from its leader’s statement. </p><p>Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut lashed out at the BJP. </p><p>“The BJP wants to hurt the Marathi people. With Kripashankar Singh, they are trying to spoil the atmosphere of Mumbai. Kripashankar Singh is not the leader of Hindi-speaking people here...They are doing vote bank politics, which we don’t want,” said Raut, who is a close aide of Uddhav and a friend of Raj and played a key role in their rapprochement. </p><p>“The statement by Singh was not done without any purpose but it was a strategy to create an atmosphere among outsiders against Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS. Following this, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Samrat Choudhary, respectively, would be brought in to campaign for the BJP for the civic body polls…The BJP has decided not to have a Marathi mayor in Mumbai or anywhere else. This is BJP's agenda,” he said. </p><p>Former leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who is a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, said that through Singh, the BJP has stated the party position. “While people from any part of the country can live and work here, there is no doubt that this area is mainly for the local Marathi population,” he said. </p><p>“Come what may, the Mayor of Mumbai will be a Marathi,” said MNS leader Avinash Jadhav, who heads the party’s unit in the twin districts of Palghar and Thane. “I say again…Mumbai Mayor will be a Marathi and ours,” he added.</p>