Sena-Cong match-fixing in 42 BMC wards: BJP

Accusing its erstwhile alliance partner Shiv Sena of joining hands with the Opposition Congress in 42 wards for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, BJP Mumbai city president Ashish Shelar on Sunday said that the 'tacit understanding' is enough proof of the Sena and the Congress admitting their defeat even before the match has begun.

"Leaders of both these parties have fielded weak candidates in these wards to benefit the other," said Shelar adding that it also means they have admitted their defeat. "This is a treachery to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to Mumbai and to Maharashtra as well," he said.

Shelar was addressing the BJP candidates after party state president Raosahaeb Danve kick-started the party's electioneering for BMC polls. Earlier, the candidates paid their tributes at Hutatma Smarak—where 105 people were martyred for unification of Mumbai with Maharashtra before 1960—after which Shelar and Danve administered them an oath of transparency.

Recalling that he had won Mumbai Cricket Association election despite attempts to defeat him, Shelar said, "now they have entered into a match-fixing for winning civic bodies."