BMC to go over permissions it granted in past to Sena rallies

The tussle to hold the Shiv Sena's annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park is becoming more intense. For the Uddhav Thackeray faction, MP Vinayak Raut on August 22 asked for the BMC's nod, while for CM Eknath Shinde's group, Mahim MLA Sada Sarvankar applied for permission on August 30.

- Chaitanya.Marpakwar @timesgroup.com

Meanwhile, the BMC has sought legal opinion from its law department on the two applications received from the rival factions. Senior civic officials said that a factual report from the BMC's G-North ward, under which Shivaji Park falls, was sought to examine how permissions for the previous Dussehra rallies were given. A senior civic official said that a view on which of the two factions should get approval is expected this week.

An official pointed out that while the BMC was looking at the first come first served' policy to give permission to the Uddhav camp, another view was that approval should be given to the local MLA of the Sena who has successfully applied for permission for the Dussehra rally in the past. The MLA in this case is Sarvankar, who has joined the Shinde group.