Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 16 : Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Friday expressed confidence that the Mayor of Mumbai will come from the Mahayuti alliance, saying most seats in the BMC elections are going to the Mahayuti alliance.
Athawale said that while Uddhav Thackeray's alliances with the BJP and the RPI(A) helped him remain in power in Mumbai for decades.
Speaking to ANI, Athawale said, "Today, vote counting is underway for the municipal elections across Maharashtra. As far as Mumbai is concerned, Uddhav Thackeray was in power for 25-30 years. He was in power because he was in an alliance with the BJP. Today, the BJP is the number one party in the country."
"The RPI(A) was with Uddhav Thackeray since 2012, which is why he remained in power, but today neither the BJP nor the RPI(A) is with him. Uddhav Thackeray has now formed an alliance with Raj Thackeray, which seems to be giving him some advantage in certain Marathi-speaking areas, but most of the seats are going to the Mahayuti alliance. The Mayor of Mumbai will be from the Mahayuti alliance, and will be a Marathi speaker," he said.
The Mahayuti alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, has expanded its lead in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with the trends from preliminary data indicating that the alliance is leading in 117 wards in Mumbai.
While the BJP is leading in 86 seats, Shiv Sena is leading in 31 seats in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance has managed to cross the 68 mark, with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) only leading in 9, and UBT Sena leading in 58, and NCP (SP) leading only in 1.
Similarly, Ajit Pawar's NCP is also leading in 1 seat, while the Congress party continued to have a dismal performance with leads in only 10 seats.