Mayor Memsaab

City will get woman mayor for second successive time after Shubha Raul's tenure ends this month

Mumbai will get a woman mayor for the second successive time.

A draw was held at the Minister of State for Urban Development's cabin yesterday to decide whether a male or female should get the post and if it should be reserved for the Scheduled Castes with Mayor Shubha Raul's tenure ending this month.

"We thought it would fall in the open category, but it will be a woman mayor.

It's a blessing in disguise for the Shiv Sena-BJP because it would have been difficult to choose a prospective mayor with Ravindra Waikar, Sunil Prabhu, Mangesh Satamkar and Prabhakar Shinde eyeing the post.

They had been lobbying with the top brass and offending anyone would have meant a split within the party," said a Shiv Sena corporator.



3 candidates

Sources said Shubhda Gudekar, Shraddha Jadhav and Rajul Patel are likely candidates for the post.

It is believed that Gudekar, a corporator from Kandivli and former chairperson of the BMC health committee, is the frontrunner.

However, she dismissed the speculation saying, "Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray will take the final decision. I will abide by that."

Meanwhile, the Congress, which trounced the Sena-BJP alliance in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, plans to spoil the saffron combine's aspirations.
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The Congress hopes to grab the mayor's seat from the Sena after 15 years. Rumours of some Sena corporators joining hands with the MNS has given the Congress-NCP alliance a fresh lease of life.

Sheetal Mhatre and Geeta Yadav are their prospective candidates.

'No need for Foreign Trips'

After MiD DAY reported on Tuesday about Shubha Raul's seven overseas trips at the taxpayers' expense, prospective mayors feel the tours are not beneficial.

Mumbai can't be developed if Raul is frequently on foreign trips. Mumbai is a rich city and we don't need to go overseas to see what the others are doing. Instead, we can utilise our resources and develop the city.
Rajul Patel, Shiv Sena corporator

I want to ask Raul if she has implemented a single thing in Mumbai because of her trips. There have been other mayors who have done a better job than Raul without travelling abroad.
Sheetal Mhatre, Congress corporator

I don't think Raul is wrong in going on foreign visits. She has learnt a lot from the trips and she will implement that for developing the city.
Shubhda Gudekar, Shiv Sena corporator

Women mayors

S M Modi was Mumbai's first woman mayor from February 23, 1956, to March 31, 1956.

The others are Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar (1994-95), Vishakha Raut (1997-98) and Shubha Raul (2007 till date).

According to BMC sources, "Raul (above) was elected as an OBC candidate. So, the mayor cannot be from a backward caste now."

115
Number of Sena-BJP corporators in the BMC of 227 members

110
Number of Congress and other corporators. Two seats are vacant

2.5
Maximum number of years a mayor's tenure lasts