CM Devendra Fadnavis

MUMBAI: A renewed bohomie between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and former housing minister Prakash Mehta was on display at the release of the six-time Ghatkopar East MLA's five-year report card on Tuesday.

Mehta is seeking re-election from Ghatkopar East. Fadnavis had dropped Mehta from his cabinet in June, more than a year after the housing minister was accused of impropriety in a slum redevelopment project. On Tuesday, Fadnavis came to Ghatkopar two hours early for the report card function, which was advanced for him as he had urgent meetings to attend later in the day.

At the event, the two BJP politicians showered praise on each other.

BJP politicians said there was a rush for election tickets from the party and it was difficult to get one. "Since victory is certain this time there are several aspirants and getting a ticket is that much more difficult," a BJP politician said, requesting anonymity.

During the Lok Sabha election earlier in the year the party had dropped sitting MP Kirit Somaiya from the Mumbai North East constituency and in his place nominated corporator Manoj Kotak; at the time BJP functionaries said that Fadnavis had opposed giving the general election ticket to Mehta.

