Maharashtra: BJP-Sena Yuti takes huge lead in BMC, distributes ‘rasmalai’ to mock Raj Thackeray over his comment against Annamalai
Mumbai, January 16
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti have gone well past the halfway mark in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, leading on 122 of 227, as per the last trends from the state election commission
The BJP is emerging as the largest party in India’s richest municipality, with 93 seats, with its alliance partner Shiv Sena leading on 29. The Thackeray brothers trail at 70 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) gaining 61 seats and MNS nine.
In response to MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s ‘rasamalai’ jibe against Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai, Mumbai BJP chief spokesperson Niranjan Shetty and others celebrated the party’s victory by distributing rasmalai. Raj Thackeray had taken a sharp jibe at the BJP leader whom he mockingly referred to as ‘rasmalai’.
Congress, which clinched Latur, winning 43 of 70 seats, was leading on 15 seats in Mumbai, while NCP (SP) led on one.
As per the trends till 6:30 pm, the uncle-nephew duo of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar have failed to touch the majority mark in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, with NCP (SP) unable to open its account. In Pune, the BJP was leading on 90 seats with its alliance partner Shiv Sena at two, while Ajit Pawar, who left the Mahayuti to unite the two NCP factions, led on 20 seats. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the BJP-Sena alliance led on 90 seats while the NCP on 34.
Mahayuti is also emerging well above the majority marks in Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Jalna and Vasai-Virar.
Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane mocked Aaditya Thackeray in a social media post, bringing back the ‘penguin’ jibe. He said, “Jai Shri Ram to Uddhav ji and penguin.”
Earlier today, Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis attributed the BJP-Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti’s sweeping victory in the civic polls to the “development agenda”, while stating that the alliance will form Mayors in 25 of the 29 Municipal Corporations.
Addressing the BJP workers at the party office in Mumbai, Devendra Fadnavis “bowed down” to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, while hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership for the victory in the local body elections.
He said, “I bow down to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the architect of India’s Constitution, Babasaheb Ambedkar. Today, first of all, I want to thank the citizens of Maharashtra for giving a grand victory to the BJP in the municipal elections. BJP and Mahayuti are going to form their 25 mayors after these elections.”
“We faced these elections with a vision of development in the leadership of Modi ji. And voters have reciprocated well to our development agenda. And that is why we have a record-breaking mandate in several civic bodies. It is clear that people have certified that they want an agenda of development. These results have also clarified that Maharashtra still trusts Modi ji. I also remember Balasaheb Thackeray on the occasion,” he added.
A total of 29 Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra underwent polling on Thursday, with the counting of votes today. (ANI)