Mumbai: Shiv Sena Party Offices In Municipal Headquarters Blocked
Mumbai, 29th December 2022: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the party office at the headquarters given to the Shiv Sena corporators by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, and a clash ensued between the two factions. To prevent such incidents from happening in the future, the administration has locked the offices of all the political parties in the municipal headquarters. Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena office bearers and workers have started to feel displeasure not only in Shiv Sena, Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, and Samajwadi Party but also in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray’s party corporators met the commissioner on Thursday and demanded that party offices should be opened.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’s party and Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena factions are fighting after the transfer of power in the state. Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena activists led by MP Rahul Shewale, former standing committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav, former corporator Sheetal Mhatre, who went with Eknath Shinde, came to the Municipal Corporation headquarters on Wednesday to meet Mumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. After the meeting of the commissioners, all of them tried to take over the Shiv Sena party office at the headquarters. As soon as the supporters of Uddhav Thackeray heard this news, they reached the headquarters of the Municipal Corporation. Shiv Sena’s south Mumbai division chief Pandurang Sakpal, former corporator Ashish Chemburkar, Ramakant Rahate and others reached there along with the workers. Activists of both groups confronted each other and stormed the headquarters with slogans. Finally, the incident was averted by the intervention of the police and municipal security guards. However, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal took serious notice of this matter and blocked the offices given to all the political parties in the headquarters to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
A party office is provided at the headquarters for the elected corporators in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections. The size of the office is determined based on its strength. The term of Mumbai Municipal Corporation Hall ended on March 2022. After that, the administration level was thinking of closing these offices. However, all the political parties demanded that these offices should be continued for the former corporators who come to work at the municipal headquarters. So these offices were continued. But there was a clash between Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena and the activists of Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray over the Shiv Sena party office and after that, the administration locked the offices of all the political parties.
Former corporators, office bearers, and activists from various political parties are coming to the Municipal Corporation headquarters for various work. Therefore, Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’s former corporator demanded that these offices should be reopened after meeting Chahal on Thursday. At this time, a large number of former corporators had entered the headquarters. They left the headquarters in a panic shouting slogans. It is not right for the administration to close the offices of all political parties. BJP spokesperson Bhalchandra Shirasat expressed his displeasure in this regard that only the controversial office should have been locked down.
Employees have been appointed to do small and big jobs in the offices of various political parties in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Group leaders, former corporators, leaders, and office bearers are being followed up by the employees in the municipal corporation. These employees are paid by the respective political parties. These employees work in the headquarters offices provided by the administration to the political parties. But now these employees are in trouble as the offices have been locked. A total of 12 employees, four in the BJP office, Shiv Sena, three each in the Congress offices, and one each in the NCP and Samajwadi offices, had to sit outside the office on Thursday.
