Shiv Sena wins mayoral polls in BJP’s bastian in north Maharashtra

Girish Mahajan

Engaged in an intense power conflict with the BJP, the Shiv Sena managed to inflict yet another defeat on it in the mayoral elections on Thursday. In North Maharashtra's ‘banana capital' Jalgaon, the ruling party got the BJP's 27 civic representatives to switch over to its side and won the mayor and deputy mayor's posts. The BJP had a clear majority for both posts till Wednesday, but now it won't be in power for the next 30 months.

Sena minister Eknath Shinde led the operation, winning 45 votes for the party. He brought the BJP's 27 and AIMIM's three corporators to Thane, from where they participated in an online voting conducted on Thursday. Sena's 13 members were also in Thane. Jayashree Mahajan was elected as the party's first mayor and BJP rebel Kulbhushan Patil won the deputy mayor's post.

Patil said he led the rebellion because the BJP had failed in developing Jalgaon even after winning 57 members. "The BJP promised a lot, but did not deliver," he said.
The defeat is quite upsetting for former BJP minister Girish Mahajan, who rose to new heights in the previous regime and controlled the BJP's bastion in North Maharashtra. In a similar event recently, BJP's state president Chandrakant Patil lost control of the Sangli Municipal Corporation when the Nationalist Congress Party installed its mayor.

BJP's Praveen Darekar accused the Sena of using power and money to influence the rebellion. "It's temporary. The people of Jalgaon will elect the BJP again in the next elections," he said.

What makes this tussle politically significant is the fact that ex-minister Eknath Khadse, who left the BJP for the NCP, had pledged to exterminate his previous party from the district. However, senior Sena leaders did not appear comfortable in sharing credit for the win in Jalgaon with Khadse, who told the media that the coup happened because he had urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to do justice to the citizens, who were aggrieved by the arrogance of BJP's senior leaders and corruption in the civic body.