A crisis in BJP-Sena alliance over BMC mayor post and the Bal Thackeray link
India Today
There are cracks in Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance over the BMC Mayor's post. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena wants the post on a rotational basis, especially because this is Bal Thackeray's birth centenary year. An Uddhav Thackeray camp leader, using the same centenary occasion, urged Shinde to join forces with Shiv Sena (UBT).
First, there was a nearly four-year delay in the elections for the BMC, Mumbai's cash-rich civic body. Now, there is seemingly a stalemate over which party will occupy the BMC Mayor's post. Cracks keep emerging among political alliances in Maharashtra, but this time, it is seemingly more serious given the tussle is between ruling alliance partners—the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP.
The dispute is around Shinde Sena's demand for the mayor's position on a rotational basis, with the party pushing to hold it for the first two-and-a-half years of the five-year term. But it is not merely a power tussle for Eknath Shinde, who was essentially demoted to the deputy chief minister's post after engineering one of the biggest factional splits in Maharashtra's politics.
Shinde's demand has more context — 2026 marks the birth centenary year of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, who had envisioned Shiv Sainiks occupying every rung of political power in Maharashtra — from the chief minister's office to the BMC Mayor's chair, concurrently.
During Bal Thackeray's time as the undivided Sena chief, and even for a few years after his passing, the Shiv Sena held sway over the BMC. That was for nearly three decades. Between 1995 and 1999, when Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane served as chief ministers, the posts of a Sena CM and a Sena BMC Mayor overlapped. This setup, however, was never repeated thereafter.
Now, both the Shinde Shive Sena and the Sena (UBT), headed by Bal Thackeray's son Uddhav Thackeray, seek to carry that legacy forward, each claiming to be the "real" Sena. After the BMC election results were declared, both factions said that they wanted a Sena mayor, both refering to Bal Thackeray's dream.
If Shinde can install a Sena BMC mayor, it gives him an undisputed claim over the Shiv Sena, as he fulfils party founder Bal Thackeray's dream in his birth centenary year. However, there is a big hurdle.
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