Fadnavis gave up chance to install BJP mayor in BMC in 2017: Eknath Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said Devendra Fadnavis gave up the opportunity to install a Bharatiya Janata Party BJP mayor in Mumbai after the 2017 civic polls for the sake of the Shiv Sena at his request reported news agency PTIBut Uddhav Thackeray repaid this gesture by severing the alliance with the BJP two years later CM Eknath Shinde said on Saturday at a conclave of the Shiv Sena Shinde faction workers in Navi MumbaiShinde also sought to assuage concerns of his party colleagues after the Nationalist Congress Partys group led by Ajit Pawar joined his government a fortnight agoCertain equations have to be formed in politics Looking at the development carried out by his government Ajit Pawar too has backed our government he saidIn June 2022 Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena MLAs revolted against Uddhav Thackeray then chief minister and president of the undivided Shiv Sena One of the main reasons cited by them was that Ajit Pawar as finance minister did not allocate funds for their constituenciesThe revolt led to the collapse of the Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi governmentThe Shiv Sena controlled the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC from 1997 to 2022 Elections to the countrys richest civic body are due for the last one yearThe BJP had almost won the BMC in 2017 civic body polls Devendra Fadnavis was the CM Our chief Uddhav Thackeray said we have been controlling the BMC and it should not go out of our hands Shinde reminiscedBut had Devendra Fadnavis decided the mayor would have been of the BJP But I told him that we are in the government working together And our boss Thackeray heart is in Mumbai so you leave Mumbai for the Shiv Sena he saidDevendra ji left the quest for Mumbai on my request but how was this gesture repaid by Thackerayiquest Shinde askedIn the tightly contested 2017 Mumbai civic body polls the Shiv Sena won 84 seats with the BJP close on its heels by winning 82 seats No party could win a majority but the Shiv Sena managed to get its mayor electedShinde said despite this Thackeray ignored 4050 calls when the process began to form government after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls and eventually formed government with the NCP and CongressIn the last seven years Devendra Fadnavis did not even mention once that he could have won the BMC and installed a BJP mayor but he gave it to the Shiv Sena So who is ungrateful Shinde said attacking ThackerayWith inputs from PTI