Click to play videoMumbai: As the Mumbai civic electoral battle culminated in a grand finale on Friday, the victors Shiv Sena also decided it was time to call for a truce with rivals Congress.
While the Sena-BJP alliance will now control BMC, the Congress-dominated government has readily agreed to work with the rivals to improve civic amenities in Mumbai.
The Sena-BJP alliance stopped very close to the magic number of 114 and bagged with a majority of 110 seats in the Maharashtra civic polls.
With the help of a few independents, they could cross the half-way mark of the total 227 seats in the corporation.
The Congress has evidently paid the price of not allying with the NCP, with 73 seats. The NCP is at 14 while Raj Thackeray's breakaway MNS made no dent into the Sena votes, with just seven seats.
Re-polling has also been ordered in one ward to be held on Sunday.
At Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s residence Matoshree, jubilant crowds poured in with congratulatory messages through the day.
But Sena’s heir apparent Uddhav Thackeray sounded more humble than usual and now wants to share the credit for this phenomenal victory with his own partymen and the BJP.
“The Shiv Sena victory is a teamwork,” he said. He also extended an invitation to the Congress to work together for the development of Mumbai.
“Lets work together for Mumbai. The people are with us but the government is yours. Mumbai gives more revenue than any other state So you and I should try and get more money from the centre for the state,” Uddhav said.
In a city, where civic infrastructure needs rapid modernisation, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was also quick to pledge that politics won't come in the way of the city's reconstruction
“Politics will not come in the way of development,” Deshmukh said.
For the Shiv Sena, a split between the NCP and the Congress votes was the best arithmetic they could have hoped for.
The party was troubled by dissent within, by factions walking out and forming separate political entities.
But all seems well now for the Sena with Uddhav Thackeray getting the best gift for his brthday that he celebrated quietly a few days ago.
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