Meetings held to gauge situation at ground level amid speculation over Thackerays factions coming together; The elections of 227 BMC seats are likely to be conducted at the end of the calendar year, or at the latest by early 2026
The BMC polls are likely to be conducted by the end of 2025. FILE PIC/SHADAB KHAN
On Monday, the BJP Mumbai committee conducted a meeting to review the party’s preparation and discuss strategies that it would have to adopt for the BMC election. The elections of 227 BMC seats are likely to be conducted at the end of the calendar year, or at the latest by early 2026.
According to sources, the party discussed what would be the impact if the Thackeray cousins — Uddhav and Raj — inked an alliance and contest polls together, especially with the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) trying to make regional language pride, Marathi, an issue for the polls. Besides this and a discussion on the seats favourable for the BJP, it was also discussed how many wards the party should contest in.
A senior BJP functionary on condition told mid-day, “Seat sharing and the number of seats to be contested will be sorted at the higher level (read as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar of NCP).”
BJP MLA Ameet Satam claimed that this time the BMC will have a mayor from the Mahayuti. “Elections will be fought keeping public issues at the centre and on the development agenda. But, one thing is for sure, this time the Mahayuti will have its mayor in the BMC,” Satam said. Besides Mumbai, 28 other municipal corporations, including Thane, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Kalyan Dombivli and Vasai-Virar, too, will be holding local polls.
Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray addressed party workers in a meeting held at Rangsharda in Bandra on Monday. In a closed-door meeting, Thackeray asked party workers to roll up their sleeves and start working for the local body elections. “Raj-saheb mentioned that if brothers can come together (cousin brothers Raj and Uddhav), why can’t leaders within the party bury their differences and come together?” said a senior MNS functionary who attended the meeting.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, too, has called a meeting of party leaders and workers today, from areas where sitting corporators have quit the party and joined the rival camp. A senior Sena functionary close to Matsohree said, “Uddhav-ji will be meeting local Sena workers and functionaries to assess the ground situation of areas where our sitting corporators have quit to join other political parties.”
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