Kalyan-Dombivali: MNS corporator Mandar Halbe set to join BJP

Dombivli in the Thane district of Maharashtra is witnessing a major political upheaval on the backdrop of the forthcoming Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation elections. MNS has suffered another blow on Tuesday after Dombivli city president Rajesh Kadam joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday. It is also being said that MNS corporator Mandar Halbe is also set to join the BJP in the presence of state president Chandrakant Patil and former minister MLA Ravindra Chavan.

Currently, Shiv Sena-BJP has started cracking down on MNS in the constituency of Raju Patil, the only MLA of MNS in Kalyan rural constituency. It is being said that many MNS partymen are on the path to join Shiv Sena-BJP. Mandar Halbe has been elected as a corporator twice so far, while in the last assembly elections, when MNS had given the ticket of Dombivali constituency to Halbe, Mandar Halbe was defeated by 37,000 votes.

Mandar Halbe was also the Leader of Opposition in Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation. On Monday, Shiv Sena along with MNS state vice-president Rajesh Kadam and Sagar Jedhe were inducted by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Along with Kadam, Sagar Jedhe of MNS students' union, Kalyan taluka president Arjun Patil, Deepak Bhosale and others have joined Shiv Sena. Kadam was earlier in Shiv Sena. He was a founding member of MNS since its inception.