The Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, struck a defiant note on Saturday, accusing the BJP of winning the Mumbai civic elections through “betrayal” and vowing to continue their fight for the “Marathi manoos”.

Aided by Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena, the BJP won the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections on Friday, ending the Thackerays’ nearly four-decade dominance over the country’s richest civic body.

In a multi-cornered contest, the BJP emerged as the largest party with 89 of the 227 seats while Shinde’s Sena secured 29, their combined tally of 118 narrowly above the majority mark of 114.

The much-hyped alliance of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was restricted to 71 seats.

A day after the setback, a combative Uddhav addressed his party’s 65 newly elected corporators.

Uddhav said: “The BJP tried every means to finish off the Shiv Sena but failed. The Sena lives in the hearts of the people.”

“The BJP wants to mortgage Mumbai. They won the polls through betrayal, and the Marathi manoos will not forgive this sin.”

In a veiled attack on deputy chief minister Shinde, who split the Sena in 2022 and aligned with the BJP, he added: “Betrayers can be bought over with money, pressure, agencies and tactics, but loyalty is never for sale.”

Raj, whose party won only 6 of the nearly 60 seats it contested in Mumbai, dragging the alliance’s tally down, posted an open letter on X to try and rally party workers.

“Though the MNS did not achieve the expected success this time, and that brings sorrow, we are not the ones to be disheartened by it,” he wrote.

Raj reiterated the plank of “Marathi asmita” (pride) on which he had tied up with his cousin.

“Our fight is for the Marathi people, the Marathi language, Marathi identity, and for a prosperous Maharashtra. This fight is our very existence. Such battles are long-term,” he wrote.

Tussle for mayor

A tussle seems to be brewing over the post of Mumbai mayor. While the BJP is poised to stake claim to the post — which the Sena had held for decades — indications are that Shinde is preparing to drive a hard bargain.

The first signs emerged on Saturday when the Sena directed all its 29 new corporators to assemble at a Bandra hotel by 3pm. They are expected to be lodged there for the next couple of days to prevent “poaching”, party
leaders said.

The BJP needs the Sena’s 29 votes to secure control of the civic body and install its own mayor.

“The BJP should respect alliance dharma. The party already has the chief minister’s post, so the BMC mayor should be from the Sena,” a Sena strategist in
Mumbai said.

Such a move, he said, “would send out a positive signal to the Marathi manoos”.

Certain remarks in Uddhav’s address to his party appear to have provided Shinde with an opening to claim the mayor’s post.

“It remains my dream to get a Shiv Sena mayor elected in Mumbai and, God willing, it will happen,” Uddhav had said, seeking to boost cadre morale.

Many believe the comment was aimed at sending a message to the Shinde faction’s new corporators to defect and help elect a Shiv Sena mayor for Mumbai.

This could give Shinde leverage to press his demand before the BJP leadership, arguing that this concession is necessary to keep his flock together.

After the 2024 Assembly elections, Shinde had sulked for days while pressing for his continuation as chief minister. But the BJP, which had rewarded him with the top post after he split the Sena in 2022, refused this time, having bagged 132 Assembly seats to the Sena’s 57.

Shinde was eventually compelled to settle for deputy chief minister. However, he has greater elbow room in the civic body since the BJP cannot secure power there without the support of his 29 corporators.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Mumbai mayor would be from the alliance and ruled out any differences.

“Who will become the mayor, when the mayor will be elected, where it will be decided and for how many years — all these decisions will be taken collectively by me, Eknath Shinde, and our party leaders. There is no dispute whatsoever,” he told reporters in Pune.

Sanjay Raut, a leader of Uddhav’s Sena faction, hit out at Shinde.

“If Eknath Shinde had not become a traitor to the Shiv Sena, the BJP would never have got a mayor in Mumbai. The Marathi people will remember Shinde as ‘Jaichand’ (traitor),” he said.