BMC Elections 2022: After MVA collapse, will Uddhav mend fences with Shinde camp to retain cash-rich civic body?

With the MVA government collapsing under its own weight and Uddhav Thackeray no more the chief minister of Maharashtra, it will be a Herculean task for the Shiv Sena to retain power in the the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The high-stake BMC elections are likely to take place at the end of this year.

But before that, an even bigger question is who heads the Shiv Sena — Eknath Shinde with his 39 other MLAs or Uddhav Thackeray with the remaining 16? 

Unless Thackeray decides to mend ties with the Shinde camp, the current scenario favours the BJP for the civic polls. Shinde’s role will be crucial in the BMC polls, especially if his faction decides to team up with the BJP, after forming the government with its support. 

For Thackeray, who has been “betrayed by his own partymen”, it will be hard to accept the rebels back, but that may be one of the few options left for him to retain BMC. 

In the 2017 civic polls, Sena won 84 seats, while the BJP bagged 82. Later, six from MNS and some Independents joined Sena. Total number of electoral wards in BMC is now up from 227 to 336 following redrawing of ward boundaries. 

Thackeray will also have the option of forming an alliance with the Congress and NCP, who he said stood by him when his own party members deserted him. 

“Although Shinde is a Thane-based leader with little Mumbai presence, since Uddhav has lost power, the momentum will be with the BJP. Shinde’s faction won’t have much say in BMC so it will be a clear Uddhav vs BJP fight. Many Sena corporators will rebel and fight on tickets from the Shinde camp, some may even join BJP,” an observer was quoted by Times of India as saying.