Civic polls: BJP leader bats for Hindi-speaking mayor in Mira Bhayandar

Mumbai, Dec 31 (PTI) BJP leader Kripashankar Singh on Wednesday said efforts would be made to ensure the election of a north Indian and Hindi-speaking mayor in the Mira Bhayandar municipal corporation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The remarks are likely to provide a handle to the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT), which play Marathi identity politics, in the run-up to the elections to Mumbai and 28 other civic bodies.

Singh claimed that sufficient corporators from the community would be elected in the upcoming civic body elections to secure the top post.

Mira Bhayandar in Thane district was the ground zero of protests after a Hindi-speaking shopkeeper was allegedly assaulted by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists earlier this year.

A massive march taken out by the MNS and other groups to defend the Marathi ‘asmita’ (pride), which is believed to have paved the way for a reunion between the MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray, which materialised last week.

"We will elect enough corporators so that a person from the north Indian community occupies the mayor's chair in Mira Bhayandar," Singh told reporters, while expressing confidence in the community's growing political representation in the city.

Singh further claimed that the ruling Mahayuti alliance would come to power in all 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra after the January 15 elections.

The Mahayuti alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

Political observers said Singh's statement signals a push to consolidate north Indian voters, while also underlining the alliance's efforts to strengthen its grassroots presence ahead of the civic elections. PTI ND NSK