MUMBAI: Corporators of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, corralled in a Bandra West five-star hotel from Saturday, will be able to go home only after they complete the procedure of registering their group with the Konkan divisional commissioner Wednesday, Sena sources said.With the state gazette notification announcing winners in BMC polls set to be issued on Tuesday, various political parties will register their groups the next day. “Till the group is registered, no whip can apply to corporators. So, in order to prevent poaching, Sena corporators will move out (of the hotel) after that is done,” a Sena functionary said.While there is talk that Sena is keen to secure Mumbai mayor’s post, BJP on Monday demanded the mayor’s post in Thane municipal corporation, considered a stronghold of deputy CM Shinde. BJP legislator Niranjan Davkhare made a strong pitch for the party to hold the post for two years.Meanwhile, state govt on Monday issued the notification for the mayor’s reservation lottery, which will be held Jan 22; it will be conducted by urban development department. The mayor’s election will likely take place on Jan 31, sources said.Shinde Monday said the mayor in BMC will be from Mahayuti and that there is no dispute with BJP. Party functionaries said Shinde may go to New Delhi to resolve the impasse ahead of the start of Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s centenary on Jan 23.Sena functionaries said a meeting between Sena and BJP members will be held onTuesday, the first after Jan 16 BMC poll results. Sena’s ex MP Rahul Shewale, BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ameet Satam, senior BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde and Sena functionary Sheetal Mhatre are likely to be part of the meeting. Shinde said there was no truth to reports of new political equations being formed in Mumbai or elsewhere in Maharashtra.He said, “We will not do the same as Uddhav Thackeray, who formed a separate govt in 2019, disrespecting public mandate. We respect public mandate. These three elections (Lok Sabha, assembly and municipal) were fought with the blessings of Balasaheb Thackeray and guidance of PM Narendra Modi. Accordingly, in places where we fought as Mahayuti, a Mahayuti mayor will be elected. Our fight is not for office or the chair, our fight is for development of Mumbai. We have focused on what we are going to give Mumbaikars.”On Sena corporators’ stay in a hotel, he said, “A meeting of our corporators was held, and they were guided about what they should do in next five years. Sena and BJP have contested BMC elections together as Mahayuti. Wherever we contested elections together as Mahayuti, including Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, there will be a Mahayuti mayor. It is Balasaheb Thackeray’s birth centenary… so workers may have such a feeling, that the mayor should be from Sena. We will discuss this.”Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut claimed Shinde was being supported by Delhi BJP to prevent CM Devendra Fadnavis’s chosen corporator from becoming mayor. Apart from Sena, other parties like Sena UBT and Congress are also likely to register their groups on Wednesday. BJP won 89 seats and its ally Shiv Sena 29 in the 227-member BMC.On BJP’s demand for the mayoral post in Thane, its legislator Niranjan Davkhare said the party made adjustments during seatsharing negotiations, and it was now expecting to get important posts in return.Sena won 75 seats in the 131-seat-strong Thane House and BJP 28. He said if the mayor’s position was not given to BJP, the party is prepared to sit in opposition.
