Ahead of BMC polls, Uddhav meets former corporators, asks them to stay in touch with people

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Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asked former party corporators to stay in constant touch with people as the crisis-hit outfit braces for the crucial elections to the Mumbai civic body.

Former mayor Kishori Pednekar said Thackeray had called a meeting at Sena Bhavan in Dadar in central Mumbai which was attended by former party corporators of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) whose term ended earlier this year.

In the 2017 BMC polls, the Shiv Sena had won 84 seats in the 227-member House.

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Pednekar said 12 former corporators did not turn up for the meeting. Of these, nine had informed they were out of Mumbai, while two cited medical reasons for their absence. One corporator did not turn up after assuring that he would attend the meeting.

Thackeray also spoke about the "uprising in Bihar" by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and slammed the BJP for vitiating the political environment in the country as well in Maharashtra.

Earlier this week, Kumar's Janta Dal United walked out of the alliance with the BJP and tied up with the Rashtriya Janta Dal to form a new government in Bihar.

On Thursday, the Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', had heaped praise on Kumar for dumping the BJP.

"He (Thackeray) advised us to remain in touch with people constantly. He said the monsoon is already halfway through and if there is no consistency in rainfall, this could result in a spike in vector-borne diseases. So focus has to be on trying to coordinate with agencies in curbing such outbreaks," she said.

The Sena president also asked former corporators to focus on increasing the party's membership as his faction is at the loggerheads with rebel MLAs led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Pednekar said.

The membership could prove to be crucial when the Election Commission of India decides on who controls the Shiv Sena.

In June, the Shiv Sena faced its worst-ever crisis after 40 of the 55 MLAs revolted against the party leadership and aligned with rebel leader Eknath Shinde, who is now the CM.

Of the 18 Lok Sabha MPs from Maharashtra, the Shinde-led faction of rebel legislators has the support of 12.

Elections to the cash-rich BMC, which had been under Sena control for more than two decades, are due later this year.