BJP is all set to get a clear majority in BMC elections: Ashish Shelar

Our party does not work in individual capacity, our strength is in collective leadership, says head of poll management panel

With India’s richest municipal corporation, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), elections round the corner, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of the Maharashtra Assembly talks to The Hindu about its estranged relationship with the Shiv Sena and why it needs a reality check. He is confident of the BJP getting a clear majority this time and says the Sena has shown its defeat in the civic body polls by adding nine new wards. Excerpts:

The BJP does not work in individual capacity, our strength is in collective leadership. For the election, our face is Honourable Devendra Fadnavisji, organisationally our head is Mangal Prabhat Lodhaji and the election committee has many sub committees. I will play a key role to see that things go in the right direction as we want to take everyone along on the narrative which we have decided and the result we want is victory. Compared to the last elections, we know where we are weak. We have boosted our organisational strength more at the booth level in the city.

Today the Sena is talking about environmental issues, but they haven’t even been able to stop illegal burning of wires in Dharavi which generate poisonous gases. They are busy painting a rosy picture about environmental issues of tomorrow but today humans have no access to proper medicines in the civic hospitals but they want to spend money on penguins (in the Byculla zoo). The narrative we are building is that Shiv Sena needs a reality check and voters need awareness.