A day after outgoing Thane Shiv Sena corporators joined the Eknath Shinde-led faction, around 45 former Shiv Sena corporators from Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation followed suit.
Apart from the Sena corporators, 10 former corporators from MNS and BJP also joined Shinde. Forty five out of the total 53 former corporators also joined Shinde. Out of the remaining eight, two were out of station, three did not meet Shinde and three others are no more.
Shinde was in Dombivli late on Thursday night to meet the Sena functionaries when around 50 corporators pledged their support to him.
Rajesh Kadam, deputy chief of Thane district, said, “At least 40 former corporators had come to support the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, 10 other corporators from BJP and MNS had also come to meet him to extend their support. We also received calls from four to five other senior leaders from the city who could not attend. However, they are ready to support the Chief Minister.”
He, however, did not reveal who the senior leaders were. “In Thursday’s meeting with the party workers, the CM explained his stand and why he was forced to rebel. He also assured to work towards the benefit of the common public,” said Kadam.
Rajesh More, Dombivli city president who was also silent about his stand earlier, finally supported Shinde during the meet. Many other senior leaders from the party from Kalyan and Dombivli who were earlier silent have also come with their support to Shinde.
Dipesh Mhatre, a former corporator from Dombivli, said, “It is also true that there are Shiv Sena leaders who want the CM to join hands with Uddhav Thackeray. However, he has disagreed with it and has decided to stick to his decision.”
In the 2014 civic polls, BJP and Shiv Sena contested the election without an alliance for the first time. In all the previous civic polls during 2000-2010, the parties were in alliance and ruled the twin cities. In 2014, both the parties went against each other in all the public meetings, banners and processions.
Although the Sena had emerged as the single largest party, bagging 52 seats in the 122-seat KDMC house, it fell short of a majority. The BJP was the second largest party, winning 42 seats. The two came together to share power and the combined strength of Sena and BJP reached 94.
Raj Asrondkar, political analyst, said, “In Kalyan-Dombivli, there are common public who support Shiv Sena as a party that belonged to late Balasaheb Thackeray or the Marathi ‘manoos.’ People don’t support the party according to the candidate but the ideology of the party. This must be the one reason where the newly-elected CM might fail when it comes to long-term impact. Meanwhile, the party chief, Uddhav Thackeray, has had a very positive impact on people during his role as CM and people admired him. So, this will be a setback for Shinde. It will be a cut-throat competition as Shinde will find it difficult without the backing of BJP, which has gone out of the way to support him.”
