Mayor will be from Shiv Sena, says Sanjay Raut; denies approaching Congress

With no party securing clear mandate in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, Shiv Sena, the single largest party, on Saturday expressed confidence that it would still bag the Mayor's post.

Sena leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut also denied that the party had approached Congress for support. "I can say that we have the maximum number of corporators and the Mayor will be only from Shiv Sena. The reports that we sought support from Congress are not true," Raut said, speaking to media at party headquarters here this afternoon.

Senior Sena leaders on Saturday discussed the future course of action at a meeting at the party headquarters in Dadar. Newly-elected corporators met the party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

To the question how the party would be able to get its Mayoral candidate elected as its tally is well short of the required figure of 114 in the 227-member BMC, Raut said, "Wait till March 9, (the day of election for Mayor), when we will tell you."

Uddhav Thackeray did not speak to the media.

Senior Sena leader and cabinet minister in the Maharashtra Government Eknath Shinde said, "We are the number one party in the house and we have 89 corporators with us. We are going to have our Mayor."

Shinde paraded four independent corporators before the media who he said were backing the Sena.

Senior Sena leaders Manohar Joshi, MP Gajanan Kirtikar, Subhash Desai were among those who attended the meeting.