Mumbai: The Shiv Sena’s act of blaming municipal commissioner Ashwini Bhide and seeking her resignation for two monsoon-related deaths in 48 hours has exposed the faultlines within the Mahayuti in the BMC. Political observers said the Sena is getting back at Bhide and the BJP for making it play second fiddle in the BMC despite being in the governing alliance and added that Bhide too has failed to perform a political balancing act.Deputy mayor Sanjay Ghadi of the Eknath Shinde-led Sena demanded Bhide’s resignation on Thursday.The Sena has been given some key posts in the BMC, but has no say in any financial decisions, policies or transfers of officials. With BMC in the dock over back-to-back deaths, the Sena is making its presence felt. A political observer said, “The BMC is technically under the urban development department led by Eknath Shinde, but the fact that Sena is targeting Bhide shows that this is with Shinde’s consent. Bhide was handpicked by CM Devendra Fadnavis and wasn’t Shinde’s preferred choice. Soon after she took over, the Sena has been sidelined in the BMC and BJP has dominated from Day One. So it is a political decision taken by Shinde Sena to get back at Bhide and BJP. But this also reflects that Bhide has not been able to balance things and is now caught in the crossfire.”In the last few months, there have been several instances where the Sena has been kept out of key BMC events, prompting them to complain of violation of protocol and norms. Most of the inspection visits for pre-monsoon works too were carried out independently by the BJP, keeping the Sena out.A former top bureaucrat said, “In the past, municipal commissioners had to balance between BJP in the state govt and bitter rival Sena (UBT) in the BMC. Right now, both BJP and Sena have put the blame on the BMC administration. This shows lack of dialogue between Bhide and the political leadership and a trust deficit too. The administration has failed to ride the double engine and is facing a political backlash for ignoring the Sena. One of the two will have to initiate a dialogue, or the rest of the monsoon will be stormy.”While BJP has 89 corporators, Sena has just 29.Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab said the blame game reveals a conflict in Mahayuti and lack of coordination.
