Shiv Sena-BJP Combine Captures Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

In what can be termed as a first setback to Congress in 2012, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine managed to retain power in the prestigious Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the country's richest civic body. Maharashtra chief minister Mr. Ashok Chavan too has honestly conceded to the fact and said that the BMC polls were really a shock for the Congress Party.

Speaking to the media, Chavan said "I didn't expect this result at all. Mumbai has been with Sena for the last 16 years, we tried but did not succeed in 2002 and 2007. This time we tried a different strategy, but we did not succeed." However, he said that though the Shiv Sena-BJP combine managed to retain power, it was interesting to see Raj Thackeray's MNS take away some seats from Sena. Chavan had earlier suggested that the Congress-NCP combine was banking on Raj Thackeray’s MNS, which they expected would cut into the votes of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. This was the first civic elections in Mumbai where the Congress was contesting in an alliance with the NCP.

The Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is also set to retain power in the Thane Municipal Corporation with the help of independents. Meanwhile, in Pune, the NCP has emerged as the single largest party, but will be able to take the control of the civic body only with the help of the Congress. The final party position in the 152-seat Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was: NCP 51, MNS 29, Congress 28, BJP 26, Shiv Sena 15, RPI 2 and Independent 1. BJP president Nitin Gadkari also saved his face in hometown Nagpur with his party leading over the Congress and the NCP.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.