VASAI: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde visited Vasai and Mira-Bhayandar on Saturday to address party workers in preparation for the upcoming municipal elections. During his address, Shinde urged party cadres to strengthen grassroots outreach ahead of the civic polls. Highlighting key welfare initiatives, Shinde said the Ladki Bahin Yojana proved to be a game changer during the Assembly elections and described it as his favourite scheme during his tenure as Chief Minister. Taking a dig at the local political leadership, Shinde alleged that the Vasai–Virar region had been deprived of development for years. He claimed that adequate infrastructure and civic amenities were lacking due to poor governance at the local level. While addressing party workers in Bhayandar, Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik, demanded 50-50 seat sharing in the civic polls stating that even though they won few seats in the earlier polls, a lot of seats lost were with thin margins. In the 2017 corporation elections, the Shiv Sena had won 22 seats, while the BJP had won 61 seats, with Congress winning 10 and 2 seats for the independent, out of the total 95 seats. After the corporation elections were announced, Sarnaik openly batted for 50-50 seat sharing. Concluding his address, he even said that the sainiks of Mira Bhayandar are ready to fight it out alone in case there is no MahaYuti. Speaking on this, Shinde said that the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were won as MahaYuti and even the corporation elections would be contested as mahaYuti.
