BJP appoints Kripashankar Singh in-charge of North Indian cell ahead of BMC polls

Former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh. File Photo

With an eye on the upcoming BMC polls, the BJP on Tuesday appointed former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh as in-charge of its cell for residents of Mumbai having roots in North India.

Singh was with the Congress earlier and served as Minister of State for Home under then-CM Vilasrao Deshmukh. The veteran politician, originally a native of Uttar Pradesh, had stepped down from the ministerial position after facing corruption allegations and later joined the BJP.

Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra BJP president, issued a letter appointing Singh, state vice-president of the party, as in-charge of its North Indian Morcha.

The BJP is seeking to dislodge its former ally Shiv Sena, which had been controlling the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for over two decades, from the country's richest civic body, whose annual budget is in upwards of Rs 40,000 crore.

In 2017, the BJP and the Sena were allies at the state level, but contested the BMC polls separately.

Five years ago, the Shiv Sena had emerged as the single large party in the BMC by winning 84 seats, while the BJP came a close second with 82 in the 227-member municipal body.

"Singh is popular among the voters of Mumbai who have roots in Uttar Pradesh. The party wants to encash on his popularity in its bid to take the administrative control of the BMC and dislodge the Shiv Sena," said a BJP leader.

Last week, the Supreme Court directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to notify the schedule for local body elections within two weeks.

Civic elections are due in a host of major cities in the state, including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Thane.

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