Mumbai, Jan. 20 -- At a late-night meeting in Mumbai on Sunday, the BJP conveyed in no uncertain terms that it would not concede either the prestigious Mumbai mayor's post or the post of the standing committee chief in the BMC to its junior alliance partner, the Shiv Sena. In the meeting between Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and the state BJP chief Ravindra Chavan, Shinde was also told that his corralling of his newly-elected corporators to a suburban five-star hotel as a bargaining chip, was "unbecoming," BJP sources present at the meeting told HT. In Maharashtra's civic polls last week, the BJP won 23 of the 29 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation where the party won 89 seats to the Shiv Sena's 29. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, known to be a hard-nosed negotiator, however, has been insistent that his party gets the mayor's post as the undivided Sena has traditionally held the Mumbai mayor's position for over 26 years. While not vested with too many powers, unlike in cities like London or New York, the mayor is the BMC's ceremonial head. For the BJP, which won the Mumbai municipal elections for the first time, breaking the Shiv Sena's stranglehold, it is important that the party puts its stamp on the win. During campaigning, it had promised to make a Marathi speaker the mayor of Mumbai. By doing so, they hope to enhance their equity among Marathi speakers, many of whom have been traditional Shiv Sena voters. Similarly, the BMC's standing committee chairperson is the one in charge of giving out contracts for all BMC work. It's the most practical way by which a political party exercises control over India's richest civic body. At the meeting, Shinde was told this post too was non-negotiable. There has been widespread speculation in Mumbai that so firm is the BJP on its decision that they have even considered an outreach to Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena if need be-- to get his 65 corporators to abstain during the vote for mayor--so the BJP can get its candidate elected. This was later denied by both BJP and the Shiv Sena (UBT). On Thursday, there will be a draw for reservation for the mayor's post. It can either someone from a scheduled caste, scheduled tribe or a woman candidate or someone from the Other Backward Castes. This reservation is done by rotation. And only when the reservation is announced that the mayor's election goes through. For his part, Shinde has been trying to bargain for the mayor's position not just in Mumbai but also in the two other municipal corporations of Kalyan-Dombivali and Ulhasnagar in MMR. In all three civic bodies the BJP-Sena contested in alliance and neither got a majority on its own. The municipal corporations in MMR, which accounts for over 20% of the state population, are politically important for all political parties. The nine municipal corporations have a cumulative annual budget of Rs 1.02 lakh crore. The region also elects 9 MPs and 66 legislators. In Kalyan-Dombivli, the Shiv Sena won 54 seats to the BJP's 50 in a house of 122 seats. In Ulhasnagar the two parties were neck and neck with the BJP winning 37 seats while the Shiv Sena won 36 seats in house of 78 seats. Since both parties need the other to win majority, there have been hectic parlays over key positions. Following the Sunday meeting, Shinde met his corporators in the hotel and later told the media that they would all be back in their wards by Tuesday. "There is no tussle between us over the mayoral elections. We are committed to the development and the interest of Mumbaikars. Nothing of the sort that happened in 2019 (When Uddhav Thackeray aligned with the Congress and the NCP to form the MVA) will happen here. We are committed to staying together as Mahayuti constituent. These reports about clashes over the post are rumours," he said....