Overview
- Campaigning in Malad and Charkop, Tamil Nadu BJP leader K Annamalai said, “Bombay is not a city of Maharashtra; it is an international city.”
- He urged a “triple-engine” setup with a BJP mayor alongside Devendra Fadnavis in the state and Narendra Modi at the Centre, citing Mumbai’s roughly ₹75,000 crore civic budget versus lower budgets in Bengaluru and Chennai.
- Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut called for legal action and Annamalai’s arrest, while NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule asserted Mumbai’s inseparability from Maharashtra and a Marathi outfit demanded an apology.
- Maharashtra BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the comment was being read out of context and was meant to underline Mumbai’s global stature.
- The dispute lands in the final stretch before the January 15 BMC polls and taps into sensitivities rooted in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement and ongoing appeals to Marathi pride.