Mumbai Confidential: Unease Spills Out

Shiv Sena and BJP have not only locked horns over seat sharing, but unease over the appointment of officials is spilling over. Maharashtra Legislature is undertaking construction projects estimated at several thousand crores in South Mumbai. In January 2023, a senior MLA from ruling Shiv Sena wrote to PWD minister Ravindra Chavan questioning how a junior engineer of his department is being given charge as deputy engineer. The department, too, later sought an answer from PWD administration. Two months have passed, but due to the blessings of another senior BJP minister’s office and the authority of young influential BJP MLA, the junior engineer hasn’t been removed.

Deal Or No Deal?

Congress has publicly denied having made a deal on any seat sharing within MVA for Lok Sabha, but its leadership failed to bring other two allies together to issue a joint statement saying so. The party wanted NCP and Uddhav group to join the chorus denying the pact. While NCP leaders denied the deal in private, a senior party leader and former minister tried to contact former CM Uddhav Thackeray on the phone through the day. “May be he is not in the mood today,” the leader said in frustrated tone.