After MLAs, Thane corporators make a beeline for Shinde

Eknath Shinde continues to tighten his grip on the Shiv Sena. After splitting the party vertically, carrying 40 MLAs with him, he is now targeting Shiv Sena corporators ahead of polls

Thane Eknath Shinde continues to tighten his grip on the Shiv Sena. After splitting the party vertically, carrying 40 MLAs with him, he is now targeting Shiv Sena corporators ahead of the municipal elections in MMR.

Vichare, who is the new Shiv Sena party’s chief whip, has so far remained loyal to the Thackeray family and had refused to support Shinde, leaving his wife, Nandini, as the sole Shiv Sena corporator from Thane city (HT Photo)

On Thursday, 66 out of the 67 outgoing Shiv Sena Corporators from Thane city joined the Eknath Shinde-led faction. Thane, which was the first municipal corporation where the Sena came into power in the 1980s, now has only one Shiv Sena corporator, Nandini Vichare, who is also the wife of Member of Parliament Rajan Vichare, the new chief whip of the Shiv Sena in Lok Sabha.

In a major show of strength on Wednesday night, all the 66 corporators including former mayor Naresh Mhaske, went to Shinde’s bungalow Nandanvan and pledged their support to him. With Sena lacking a strong face in Thane, it will be an uphill task for Thackeray’s cadre to maintain the Sena’s stronghold not only over the city but in the entire district in the upcoming civic polls.

Naresh Mhaske, Thane’s former mayor, told HT, “All of us have been with him since day one, however some of us had not openly come out in support of him until now.” Other than Nandini Vichare, the two other corporators absent were Naresh Manera who is recuperating from a bypass surgery and Sudhir Kokate, who is travelling. The corporator from Kalwa, Anita Gauri, too was not present to pledge her support, however she later claimed that she is with the Shinde camp.

Vichare, who is the new Shiv Sena party’s chief whip, has so far remained loyal to the Thackeray family and had refused to support Shinde, leaving his wife, Nandini, as the sole Shiv Sena corporator from Thane city. With 66 corporators joining Shinde, the upcoming polls in Thane will be a contestation between the two Shiv Sena camps rather than the Shiv Sena versus the BJP.

Sena watchers expect a similar trend to play out in the other municipal corporations in Thane district. In Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation for instance 70 per cent of the 53 corporators have shown their support to Shinde while out of the 25 Sena corporators in Ulhasnagar, 12 are with Shinde. In case of Navi Mumbai, from around 46 corporators from the Sena, 30 have shown their support to the rebel camp so far.

Shinde’s aides say the corporators in Mumbai too would join their camp soon. Already, five Sena MLAs in Mumbai are with Shinde. They are Sada Sarvankar, Yamini Jadhav, Prakash Surve, Mangesh Kudalkar, and Dilip Lande. Of these, Lande was a corporator in the outgoing house, while Jadhav’s husband Yashwant is the former chairperson of the standing committee. Sarvankar’s son Samadhan is also a corporator. Surve and Lande are expected to influence some municipal councillors from their circle to join the Shinde group. A senior Shiv Sena leader however expressed hope that attrition in the corporators ranks in Mumbai will be low.

A lot now depends on the July 11 when the Supreme Court will hear the matter of the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.

Prakash Bal, senior political analyst, said, “There are still technical issues, especially on the point of who does the Sena belongs to, who will get the symbol and the disqualification petition. The future to some extent, depends on the outcome of court and election commission’s ruling. However, seeing the recent trend, it is likely to be in favour of Shinde. In this case, the outcome of the municipal elections in Thane district too will be very much in favour of Shinde. Their next target will be to claim the party’s headquarter, the Sena Bhavan, after which the fight will be on the streets of Mumbai.”