Sena's Yashwant Jadhav elected as BMC Standing Committee chairman

Shiv Sena's Yashwant Jadhav has been elected BMC's standing committee chairperson for the fourth consecutive term.  While Jadhav got 14 votes, the BJP got 8 votes, beating corporator Rajshree Shirwadkar.  Shiv Sena's Sandhya Doshi has been elected as the chairperson of the Urban Education Committee.  The Congress fielded its own candidate, corporator Asif Zakaria, but later withdrew its candidature on Monday and abstained from voting. 

Political observers said the NCP and the Samajwadi Party voted for the Sena, indicating that it was a sign of forming alliances for next year's BMC elections. I will take forward the development agenda of the Shiv Sena.  Our main goal is to help the city government fight the second wave of the corona virus now. 

Once Covid-19 is under control, we will continue to strive for infrastructure and health facilities for a long time to come.  Maximum funds will be used for infrastructure and health care.  We will also control the government,”Jadhav said.  The Congress decided to field and withdraw the candidate.  The party abstained.  Sena nominated Jadhav despite opposition from many quarters as it could not find a single corporator who could take over the BJP and advance the Sena agenda in the crucial election year. 

This shows that diverse interests have played a role.  This shows that the MVA partners are not partners in the BMC and will continue to do so for the 2022 BMC elections, ”said a political observer. "We have no mandate, so we withdrew our candidature, but we didn't vote for Sena as we are the main opposition party in the BMC," said Congress corporator Ravi Raja.  The ruling party has 84 members in the 2017 BMC elections.  

The BJP had 82, the Congress 31 and the NCP 9.  The Standing Committee has 27 members.  Every year 13 members retire and new members are elected.  All financial proposals and payments must be approved by the Standing Committee.  The Sena has 12 members while the BJP has 10 members.  The remaining members are the Congress (3), the NCP (1) and the Samajwadi Party (1).