A day after the BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena combine won the civic elections, ending the Thackeray family's three-decade-old dominance in the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray expressed confidence in his party having its own mayor in Mumbai "if god willing."
His remarks come even as the BJP has officially maintained that the next mayor of Mumbai will be from Mahayuti (the BJP-Shiv Sena combine).
The BJP won 89 seats in the 227-member BMC, while its ally Shiv Sena (Shinde), bagged 29 seats. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) managed 65, and MNS got 6 seats. The Congress, which fought in alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), bagged 24 seats, AIMIM 8, NCP 3, Samajwadi Party 2, and NCP (SP) got just one seat.
Interacting with Sena (UBT) workers on Saturday, Thackeray said it is his dream to install Shiv Sena (UBT)'s mayor in Mumbai, and if god is willing, this dream will be realised.
Alleging that the BJP wants to mortgage Mumbai and won the polls by betrayal, he evoked Marathi pride, saying Marathi manoos will never forgive this sin.
Thackeray said the BJP is under the impression that it has finished off Shiv Sena (UBT), but that didn't happen. "The BJP couldn't finish off Shiv Sena on the ground," he said, referring to 65 seats won by Sena (UBT) in the BMC elections.
He claimed that the BJP used all means available to it, but could not buy loyalty.
Even as Thackeray expressed his wish to have a mayor from his party, senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claimed that Eknath Shinde's betrayal of the Marathi manoos paved the way for the BJP to win the Mumbai civic elections and install its mayor.
