Shiv Sena and BJP bicker over poster

Mumbai: A poster that was put up outside the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) office for a brief period has made the Shiv Sena and BJP lock horns with each other once again. The poster, signed by an unknown group called Mee Mumbaikar, was intended as a taunt to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The chief minister had apparently said, “A person from Nagpur will change Mumbai.” But the poster, in context to this, read: “A man from Nagpur man should instead keep Nagpur with Maharashtra. Only someone from Mumbai is capable of keeping Maharashtra united, along with Nagpur.”

This has upset the BJP, which claims that it is the Sena that has put up the poster. The Sena, though, claims it isn’t their work, but that of ‘enlightened citizens’.

The poster was taken down by the authorities immediately after it was put up outside the BMC office, where the chief minister had come for a function on Monday, along with Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and his family.

Niranjan Shetty, spokesperson, BJP Mumbai, said, “Such messages show that the people behind it are uneducated and aren’t well-versed with the affairs of the state. The chief minister is of the whole state, and he is also the one who will spearhead the development of Mumbai.”

There has been an ongoing cold war between the Sena and the BJP about the state being divided — while the BJP is in favour of a separate Vidarbha, the Sena wants a united Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has claimed that the message on the poster is right, though it wasn’t put up by the party. Pandurang Sakpal, the Sena’s South Mumbai head, said, “The message is courtesy some enlightened citizens of the city. We have nothing to do with it, but the message is perfectly right. Mumbaikars will develop Mumbai.”

The poster wasn’t up for a long time, but it found its way on social media and was retweeted and liked mostly by Shiv Sena party workers.