Maharashtra: BJP wins Chandrapur mayor’s seat with Uddhav's Shiv Sena (UBT) support

Mumbai: In a major twist in Maharashtra politics, the BJP has managed to win the mayoral elections in the Chandrapur Municipal Corporation (CMC) because of support from the local unit of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) thus outsmarting the Congress.

However, the rattled grand old party said that the development will have political repercussions.

In the CMC, which has 17 wards and 66 electoral seats, the Congress won 27 seats followed by BJP (23), the Shiv Sena UBT (6), Bharatiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksh-Janvikas Sena (3), Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (2), AIMIM (1), BSP (1), Shiv Sena (1) and Independents (2).

In fact, the BJP succeeded because of the tremendous infighting in the Congress unit involving Congress Legislature Party leader and Brahmapuri MLA Vijay Wadettiwar and Chandrapur MP Pratibha Dhanorkar.

BJP corporator Sangeeta Khandekar was elected the Mayor while Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Prashant Danav was elected the Deputy Mayor.

When Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was asked about it, he said, “Heartiest congratulations to her. I will inform you about what happened at the local level.”

Nominations for the post of Mayor were filed by Manasvi Sandeep Girhe of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sangeeta Mangal Bhoyar, Sangeeta Gopalakrishna Amritkar, Sunanda Dilip Dhobe and Vaishali Ajay Mahadule of the Congress, as well as BJP’s Sangeeta Khandekar and Sarika Sachin Sandurkar.

BJP’s Khandekar edged out her nearest rival by one vote to clinch the mayor’s post with support from the Shiv Sena (UBT).

“We will not support the BJP under any circumstances. Even if we have to sit in the Opposition, we will do so, but we will not help the BJP come to power,” Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had said before the voting.

However, it appears that the local unit went against the party line.

Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Chandrapur unit chief Sandeep Girhe said that the Congress had refused to share the Mayor’s post during the five-year term.

The BJP will hold the Mayor’s post for the first 15 months, after which Shiv Sena (UBT) will take over. Shiv Sena (UBT) will hold the Deputy Mayor’s post for the full five-year term and will chair the Standing Committee in the first and four years.

Reacting to the development, state Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal said, “The Congress party had 31 members. As an ally of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the INDIA bloc, the Shiv Sena (UBT) should have supported the Congress, but instead supported the BJP. Meanwhile, the AIMIM indirectly helped the BJP by remaining neutral. Furthermore, the VBA abstained from voting, resulting in the BJP candidate winning by just one vote. The role played by the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Chandrapur will have political repercussions across the state.”

“By remaining neutral, the AIMIM has only helped the BJP. This once again proves that the BJP and MIM are two sides of the same coin. The Congress made a sincere effort to bring the VBA on board. Had they supported them, the Chandrapur mayor would have been from the Congress,” he said, adding that there was no rift within the Congress and Wadettiwar and Dhanorkar were brought on the same page.