For once, MNS ‘helps’ Sena

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Samajwadi Party — the two extreme poles of the political spectrum, and you thought the twain shall never meet. In what probably defines Indian politics in its totality, the two parties in the municipal corporation took steps — seemingly independently and not in tandem — that eventually helped what one would have thought was a common enemy — the Shiv Sena — win the mayoral elections with consummate ease.

On Tuesday, six corporators of the MNS abstained from voting and seven of SP boycotted the polls in the mayoral elections. The result: Shiv Sena candidate Shraddha Jadhav got elected as Mumbai’s 73rd and fifth woman mayor of Mumbai. In a house with effective voting strength of 209, Jadhav polled 114 votes defeating Presila Kadam, her Congress rival, by 19 votes.

Samajwadi Party corporators walked out protesting against the Congress ideology, while MNS just did not turn up.

One member from Congress citing health reasons and remained absent, and one corporator from the Sena was declared disqualified as soon the proceedings of house began. The total strength of the house was 209.

The mayoral elections, the last before the municipal polls due in 2012, had become a prestige issue for the Sena, especially with Nitesh Rane, son of one-time partyman and now a Congress minister Narayan Rane, attempting his hand at realpolitik to defeat the ruling party candidate. Kadam is a Rane supporter.

But the Rane factor spread panic in the Sena camp, forcing its chief Uddhav Thackeray to rope in his charismatic octogenarian father, Bal Thackeray, to address corporators a few days back to ensure Jadhav’s victory.

BJP’s Shailaja Girkar got elected as deputy mayor, securing 112 votes, and defeated NCP’s Vidya Chavan who secured 95 votes. Adolf D’Souza, an independent corporator, voted for the Sena for the mayoral election, but preferred to vote for the NCP candidate over the BJP’s in the deputy mayor race.