Just as the Shiv Sena feared, its bête noire, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, has emerged as the kingmaker in the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls after it threw up a fractured verdict.
Just as the Shiv Sena feared, its bête noire, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), has emerged as the kingmaker in the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) polls after it threw up a fractured verdict.
Needless to say, the next few days will unleash an intense political drama as parties thrash out equations across political and ideological lines to grab control of the civic governing body.
One thing, however, is clear — none of the parties can rule the corporation without MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s support, a boast he had made during the campaign. If he plays it right, this can be the first time in its short history that the MNS brings in its first mayor.
Perhaps with the aim of foiling such a dream, the Congress has decided to sit in the opposition benches.
The move may give it the upper hand in dictating terms to Raj, should he come knocking on its door to form a ruling combine. Congress state president Manikrao Thakre said, “We have worked hard during the campaign, but the people have chosen us to sit in the opposition, and we will try to solve their issues by being a responsible one.”
The Nationalist Congress Party, on the other hand, is keeping its options open. Its state chief, Madhukar Pichad, said the party will to talk those who led the campaign before finalising its next move.
The acrimony between Bal Thackeray and his nephew during what was arguably the most heated crossfire between the two ever since the MNS was formed in 2006, more or less ensures the
two parties won’t join hands to form the governing body, ruling out the Ambernath pattern.
Interestingly, the MNS has cemented its image of being a giant killer in these elections by defeating the sitting mayor again. In the last Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls, MNS candidate Mangesh Sangle out-voted sitting mayor and Shiv Sena candidate Datta Dalvi.
In the KDMC polls, too, MNS’ Nitin Nikam has defeated the present mayor Ramesh Jadhav from the Shiv Sena.
The Bhartiya Janata Party suffered the most in the polls, and that too in Dombivli, a long-held bastion of the party and also the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}