BMC Elections: Raj Thackeray's meeting with Fadnavis sparks alliance buzz, Amit Shah in Mumbai next week

A meeting between MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has trigerred speculations about a possible alliance between the two parties for the the upcoming BMC elections. 

Both MNS and BJP have kept mum on the meeting which took place early morning today at Fadnavis’ residence. The meeting comes a month after Fadnavis visited Raj Thackeray’s residence to inquire about his health following his hip replacement surgery in July.

On the other hand, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Mumbai next week, where he will take part in the Ganesh festival and also interact with state BJP leaders to firm up the party’s strategy for the civic body polls. 

Shah is also expected to meet Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar during his day-long visit. 

According to a report by The Indian Express, the BJP has plans to target over 134 BMC wards out of the total 227. The party has been making all attempts to dislodge the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena from the BMC, which has been ruling the civic body for the last three decades. 

During the recently concluded monsoon session of the state Assembly, the BJP-Shinde government took the decision to restore the BMC wards to 227 from 236. The decision to increase the number of wards was taken by the erstwhile MVA government. 

The BMC polls are a prestige battle for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, which lost power to the BJP after a rebellion by Eknath Shinde led to a split in the party. Meanwhile, for the Shinde-BJP government, it will be the first litmus test after coming to power. 

The Indian Express quoted sources saying that the BMC polls are likely to be delayed further. The BMC polls took place in February 2017 and were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.