Shiv Sena mayor will be tribute to Bal Thackeray: Shinde

Mon, 19 January 2026

19:37

Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde./File image

A section of Shiv Sainiks believes that Mumbai having a Shiv Sena mayor would be a mark of respect to Bal Thackeray in his birth centenary year, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday, amid a reported tussle with ally Bharatiya Janata Party.

Shinde also emphasised that Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor, dismissing reports of new political equations after the results of the civic polls were declared last week.

Similarly, mayors of the Mahayuti alliance will be installed in those civic bodies where the Shiv Sena and BJP had contested the elections together, he told reporters.

"Balasaheb Thackeray's birth centenary year starts from January 23. Some Shivsainiks (party activists) have the feeling that a Shiv Sena mayor should be installed in the BMC," he said.

The remarks are viewed as Shinde indirectly staking a claim to the Mumbai mayor's post.

He stressed that the Shiv Sena would not take any decision that goes against the people's mandate, emphasising that the Shiv Sena and BJP had fought the Mumbai civic elections as an alliance.

His assertion comes amid intense debate over the shifting of 29 corporators-elect of Shiv Sena to a posh hotel in Mumbai after the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance secured a narrow majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

There is speculation that Shinde is keen to secure the BMC mayor's post for the Shiv Sena -- at least for the first two-and-a-half years -- since it is the birth centenary year of party founder late Bal Thackeray. -- PTI

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