Pune: Hectic political parleys will be seen over the next few days in 29 municipal corporations of the state over the mayoral candidate after reservation for the posts was declared through a lottery on Thursday.
Pune, Nashik and Mumbai, along with six other municipal corporations in the state, will have a woman mayor from the general category. At the same time, eight other civic bodies, including Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Pimpri Chinchwad, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, will have mayors from the general category. The mayoral post in Kolhapur has been reserved for OBC category. The urban development department conducted the lottery, after which reservations under the general, women, SC, ST and OBC categories were announced. Shiv Sena (UBT) politician Kishori Pednekar claimed the rules for the draw of lots were changed without prior intimation. Congress legislature party leader Vijay Wadettiwar claimed that the lottery system had been “fixed”. Minister of state for urban development Madhuri Misal, however, told the media that the “lottery was drawn as per the law”. In north Maharashtra, BJP will have its own mayor in Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon. The ISLAM party, which emerged as the single largest party in Malegaon, has the support of Samajwadi Party to get its first mayor elected in the textile town. In Ahilyanagar, BJP and NCP had joined hands before the elections and will negotiate over the mayor’s post. In Marathwada, BJP sits comfortably in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded and Jalna municipal corporations to get its mayor elected. In Parbhani, allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress will decide the mayor.
Congress, which snatched the Latur Municipal Corporation from BJP, will have its mayor there.In western Maharashtra, BJP won four municipal corporations ––Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Solapur and Ichalkaranji –– on its own, enabling the party to elect its own mayors. However, in Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad municipal corporation, BJP is expected to secure support from Shiv Sena. In Kolhapur, political negotiations are set to dominate discussions between the Mahayuti alliance partners who jointly won 45 out of the 81 seats.In Mumbai, BJP and its ally Shiv Sena got a majority in the 227-member house. With both CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde saying that the mayor will be a Mahayuti candidate, there is speculation over tussle between the two parties over the post.
