The Mumbai police are keeping a close vigil at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and the Shivaji Park ground in Dadar, the venues where Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray will address the rallies of their respective Shiv Sena factions, officials said on Wednesday.
While the Thackeray faction will hold its rally at the historic Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai, a venue associated with the Shiv Sena since its inception in 1966, the rebel group led by Shinde has organised the event at the MMRDA ground at BKC in the suburbs. Both the leaders will address the rallies soon.
At the BKC venue, around 2,000 police personnel, including Deputy Commissioners of Police and Additional Commissioners of Police, have been deployed. The traffic police have made parking arrangements inside the Kalina University campus, a senior official said.
At the Shivaji Park venue, around 1,000 police personnel, including some in plain clothes, are keeping a vigil, he added.
Besides them, dog squads, Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) teams, and the personnel of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and Quick Response Team (QRT) have been deployed at both these places.
At both the venues, hundreds of women police personnel as well as home guards are posted for security.
"Several roads were either shut for traffic or the vehicles diverted in view of the rallies.Unclaimed vehicles were removed from the venues," the official said.
Another top police official said that in view of these two rallies and the processions of Goddess Durga's idols at the end of the Navaratri festival, a total of 15,200 police personnel, 3,200 officers,1,500 personnel of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), 1,000 jawans of Home Guard, 20 QRT teams, 15 BDDS units have been deployed in the city.
The Mumbai traffic police have made necessary arrangements for the parking of scores of buses and other vehicles that have brought workers to the Shiv Sena rallies.
