'Time for deeper wound on Uddhav Thackeray': Amit Shah to BJP, Eknath Shinde's Sena faction for BMC polls

Months after the BJP returned to power in Maharashtra in alliance with Shiv Sena rebels, Amit Shah asked his party to inflict a "deeper wound" on Uddhav Thackeray.

The Union Home Minister was referring to elections for Mumbai's civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, or BMC. Shah set a target of winning 150 of the 227 BMC seats for the BJP and Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde faction.

Addressing a meeting of BJP functionaries in Mumbai on 5 September 2022, Shah said, "If you hit a person at any place, it does hurt. When you hit a person on his home ground, the pain is deeper. Now is the time to inflict a deeper wound on Sena."

The Shiv Sena has ruled the BMC for almost 3 decades. Currently, the civic body is being run by an administrator as the 5-year term has ended and elections are awaited.

Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde are engaged in a battle to claim the name and symbol of Shiv Sena, and declare their own faction the true legatees of Bal Thackeray's party.

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