Ex-Sena (UBT) corporator Tejasvee Ghosalkar joins BJP

Mumbai, Dec 15 (PTI) Former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Tejasvee Ghosalkar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Monday, ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.

Tejasvee Ghosalkar, who had served as the Sena (UBT) women’s wing head in the Dahisar assembly constituency in north Mumbai, is the daughter-in-law of former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar.

Her husband, Abhishek Ghosalkar, was shot dead in early 2024 during a Facebook Live, allegedly by local resident Morris Noronha. Abhishek was also a former corporator of the BMC.

She joined the BJP on Monday in the presence of its Mumbai chief Ameet Satam and party MLC Pravin Darekar.

Later, speaking to reporters, Tejasvee Ghosalkar said she had worked diligently in the Shiv Sena (UBT) and would now work harder in her new party.

"I will accept any responsibility given to me by the party. There are many things I wish to say, but I cannot do so at the moment," she said.

She also expressed disappointment over the slow pace of the investigation into the murder of her husband.

"The CBI probe into my husband's murder is moving at a slow pace. I hope it will be completed at the earliest," she said.

In September last year, the Bombay High Court handed over the probe into the murder to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), underlining certain lapses and loose ends in the police probe.

Tejasvee Ghosalkar was corporator of the (then undivided) Shiv Sena from 2017 to 2022. She had quit from her posts in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), citing personal reasons.

Differences surfaced between her and her father-in-law during the state assembly elections last year, as both wanted to contest from Dahisar. Vinod Ghosalkar eventually contested the seat on the Sena(UBT) ticket but lost to BJP's Manisha Chaudhary.

The latest dispute pertains to the upcoming BMC polls. While Tejasvee Ghosalkar apparently wanted to contest from ward number one in Dahisar, her father-in-law was keen that his second son contest from the seat, according to sources.

The schedule for polls to various civic bodies, including the cash-rich BMC, has not yet been announced.

Elections to the local bodies in Maharashtra are to be completed by January 31, 2026, as per the Supreme Court's order. PTI ND GK