The election, however, was not a smooth affair as the blame game between the two major alliances - Sena-BJP-RPI and Congress-NCP-People Republic Party — continued till afternoon.
Shiv Sena’s Harishchandra Patil and BJP’s Milind Patankar were on Tuesday elected mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) with an unexpected, unconditional support from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Both the winners polled 73 votes each.
The election, however, was not a smooth affair as the blame game between the two major alliances - Sena-BJP-RPI and Congress-NCP-People Republic Party — continued till afternoon, giving rise to a political drama.
While extending his support to the saffron alliance, MNS chief Raj Thackeray said: “My support to the Sena is unconditional. But I do want them to develop Thane really well.” He further explained why he did what he did, saying the uppermost on his mind was Thane’s development, something that three Sena MLAs - Pratap Sarnaik, Eknath Shinde and Rajan Vichare - had promised to him.
In the same breath, the MNS chief promised Thanekars a special municipal hospital for senior citizens, 24-hour water supply in all parts of Thane, including rural areas, and best roads.
HIGH DRAMA
After the alleged kidnap of BJP’s Suhasini Lokhande, who went missing from February 24, the NCP was squarely blamed. A similar episode was played out on Tuesday morning when Congress corporator Rajan Kine blamed the Sena for the disappearance of two of their corporators - Kine’s wife and Congress corporator Anita and Independent corporator Shakeela Ansari.
Kine even went to the extent of threatening suicide if his wife did not come back before 1 pm for the mayor’s election. After all this drama, the Kine couple and Ansari did not show up for the mayor’s election.
Sources informed that it was because of Kine that the Congress-NCP alliance lost their mayor’s battle as they were planning to support the Sena at the last moment.
QUID PRO QUO
Following the MNS support to the Sena-BJP-RPI combine in Thane, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said that his party could support the MNS in the Nashik corporation if necessary. However, he added that such a move would require Sena supremo Bal Thackeray approval. The MNS is the largest single party in the Nashik corporation.
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