If God is willing, Shiv Sena (UBT) will have its mayor in Mumbai: Uddhav

Mumbai, Jan 17 (PTI) A day after the alliance of the BJP and rival Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said his party can have its mayor if "God is willing".

The cryptic remark came amid suspense over whether the mayor would be from the BJP or Shinde's party. The BJP-Sena combine on Friday wrested the control of the civic body which the undivided Shiv Sena led by the Thackerays had ruled for 25 years.

"It's my dream to install a Shiv Sena (UBT) mayor in Mumbai, and if God is willing, this dream will be realised," Thackeray said, interacting with party workers.

The BJP thinks that it has finished off the Sena (UBT) but it was not the case, said the former Maharashtra chief minister whose party won 65 seats in the 227-member civic body, more than the Eknath Shinde-led faction which won 29 seats.

"The BJP couldn't finish off Shiv Sena (UBT) on the ground," he said, adding that the saffron party used all means but "could not buy loyalty." "They (BJP) have registered victory through betrayal for mortgaging Mumbai. Marathi Manoos will never forgive this sin. The battle has not ended, but it has just begun," Thackeray told party workers.

Attacking deputy Chief Minister Shinde who split the Shiv Sena three years ago, he said "traitors" should think "what a sin they have committed." Speaking at a press conference later, Thackeray said the BJP was a party on paper and not "on the streets", otherwise it would not have been forced to break other parties, use erasable ink in elections, and misuse state machinery.

Controversy had broken out on the polling day after opposition parties claimed that the indelible ink applied to voters' fingers with a marker pen could be wiped off easily. Opposition candidates were lured with money and threatened as well, and the BJP left no stone unturned to demoralise his party, Uddhav Thackeray further alleged.

The corporators of the Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS and NCP (SP) will expose how the BMC was looted, and ensure land belonging to "Mumbaikars" is used only for their welfare, he said.

On the opposition alliance's electoral performance, Thackeray said, "My mentality is not that of a loser. We have given them a befitting reply." The BJP won 89 and its ally Shinde-led Shiv Sena bagged 29 seats in the BMC elections, while Shiv Sena (UBT) managed 65 and its ally Maharashtra Navnirman Sena six seats.

The Congress, which fought in alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), bagged 24 seats, AIMIM 8, NCP 3, Samajwadi Party 2, and NCP (SP) got just one seat. PTI PR NSK KRK