Mumbai: Shiv Sena Supporters Scramble To Retain Party Office At Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters
Mumbai, 20th February 2023: After the Shinde group got the Shiv Sena name and symbol, the party office of the Shiv Sena in Mantralaya was taken over by pro-Shinde MLAs. Former corporators supporting Uddhav Thackeray rushed to the Municipal Corporation headquarters on Monday due to the clamour to take over the party office in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation by Shinde’s supporters. Meanwhile, a tight police presence was kept at the municipal headquarters to prevent any untoward incident. As a result, the Municipal Corporation was in the form of a police camp.
The Election Commission has given the Shiv Sena name and bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde group. After that, developments started happening in Maharashtra; the reaction was felt at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters on Monday. There was a strong discussion that the supporters of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde would open the locked party office in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters and take over. Therefore, former House leader and Uddhav Thackeray supporter Vishakha Raut and other former corporators rushed to the Municipal Corporation headquarters. These groups camped outside the closed party office at the headquarters.
After the election of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, offices are made available to the political parties in the headquarters according to the strength of the corporators. These offices are closed after the expiry of the term of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Hall. The term of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Hall ended on 8th March 2022. Therefore, per the rules, these offices were expected to be closed. But the former corporators of all the parties had demanded to the Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal that these offices should be kept open for the former corporators who come to the headquarters for various work. So these offices were kept open. But there was a clash as the supporters of the Shinde group tried to take over the office of the Shiv Sena at the headquarters. Finally, the commissioner had locked down the party offices. But still, some corporators of Shiv Sena and BJP came to the Municipal Corporation headquarters and sat outside their respective party offices. Uddhav Thackeray supporters are coming here regularly. As the Shiv Sena party office in Mantralaya was taken over by Shinde supporters, Uddhav Thackeray supporters rushed to the Municipal Corporation headquarters and staged a sit-in outside the party office, which was locked by the administration.
