As the contest to decide Mumbai’s next mayor intensifies, the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde has moved its newly elected corporators to a luxury hotel in Bandra, a move that has drawn attention amid shifting political equations in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena contested 90 seats in the civic polls and won 29. Results were declared on Friday.

A senior party leader said the corporators were being housed in a luxury hotel to help them “refresh” after a hectic election season, though no clarity was offered on how long the arrangement would continue.

Another party functionary said the move was meant for the orientation of newly elected members and that they would stay there for a couple of days.

The timing of the decision is politically sensitive. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray earlier in the day made a cryptic remark, saying his party could still install its mayor in Mumbai if “God wills”.

The numbers underline why the Shinde faction matters. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 89 seats in the 227-member BMC, falling short of a majority on its own.

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s 29 corporators are crucial for the BJP to elect its mayor for the first time in Mumbai.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 seats, while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena secured six. The Congress, which fought in alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), bagged 24 seats.

AIMIM won eight seats, the NCP three, the Samajwadi Party two, and the NCP (SP) just one. A day after the BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena together wrested control of the civic body, Uddhav Thackeray struck a defiant note.

“It's my dream to install a Shiv Sena (UBT) mayor in Mumbai, and if God is willing, this dream will be realised,” he said while interacting with party workers. Thackeray rejected the view that his party had been politically marginalised.

“The BJP thinks that it has finished off the Sena (UBT) but it was not the case,” said the former Maharashtra chief minister, pointing out that his party had won more seats than the Shinde-led faction. “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.

He also targeted Eknath Shinde, who split the Shiv Sena three years ago. “Traitors” should think “what a sin they have committed,” Thackeray said.

At a press conference later, Thackeray accused the BJP of hollow strength, saying it was a party “on paper” and not “on the streets”. He alleged that the party was forced to break other parties, use erasable ink in elections, and misuse state machinery.

His remarks came against the backdrop of a controversy on polling day, when opposition parties claimed that the indelible ink applied to voters’ fingers with a marker pen could be wiped off easily.

Thackeray further alleged that opposition candidates were lured with money and threatened, and that the BJP left no stone unturned to demoralise his party.

He said corporators from Shiv Sena (UBT), the MNS and the NCP (SP) would expose how the BMC was looted and ensure land belonging to “Mumbaikars” was used only for their welfare.

On the Opposition alliance’s performance, Thackeray said, “My mentality is not that of a loser. We have given them a befitting reply.”