• News
  • BJP’s growing grip on Mumbai a setback for Shiv Sena
This story is from October 21, 2014

BJP’s growing grip on Mumbai a setback for Shiv Sena

The BJP has emerged as the biggest winner in Mumbai, relegating the Shiv Sena to the No. 2 position. This has come as a shocker to Matoshree, sources said on Monday.
BJP’s growing grip on Mumbai a setback for Shiv Sena
MUMBAI: The BJP has emerged as the biggest winner in Mumbai, relegating the Shiv Sena to the No. 2 position. This has come as a shocker to Matoshree, sources said on Monday.
The Marathi-Gujarati divide, which the Sena carefully scripted as its poll plank following the party’s split with the BJP, failed to tug at the heart strings of the Marathi ‘manoos’, say observers.

In Borivli, BJP veteran Vinod Tawde won with a staggering 79,267 margin, which, he pointed out, both Marathis and Gujaratis gave him. Tawde ate into the MNS’s Marathi vote bank in Gorai, Wazira and Charkop, even while garnering a handsome share of Gujarati-Marwari and Jain votes.
BJP spokesperson Shaina N C said, “The message is loud and clear. Mumbaikars have voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s development agenda. They want good roads, good education, good health care—good governance. They shunned sectarian considerations and stood by the BJP.”
Of the total 36 assembly seats in Mumbai, the BJP bagged 15 seats, with the Sena following closely with a tally of 14 seats. The Congress came a poor third with five seats. “There may be a difference of only one seat between the BJP and Sena, but that lone seat shows the gulf between our party and Mumbaikars is widening,” said a senior party functionary.
Atul Bhatkhalkar, general secretary of the state BJP and newly elected MLA from Kandivli said, “The city poll results show Mumbaikars went beyond caste-language considerations and thought about the city as a whole. They want the elected representative to help them with their day-to-day problems. Perform or perish is the voters’ message to every Mumbaikar MLA.”

Senior Sena functionaries Subhash Desai, Vinod Ghosalkar, Jaywant Parab and Shashikant Patkar, for instance, lost their bastions to BJP candidates, that too with a huge margin.
Even in constituencies where the Sena won, the victory has been marred by a low vis-a-vis the BJP. For instance, BJP veterans Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Sardar Tara Singh won from Malabar Hill and Mulund with 68,686 and 65,307 votes, respectively. Yogesh Sagar (BJP) won the Charkop seat with 64,637 votes.
No other Sena winner in Mumbai could touch the 40,000-plus margin which party veteran Ajay Chowdhari maintained and snatched the Sewri assembly seat in south Mumbai from MNS MLA Bala Nandgaonkar.
The BJP’s growing clout in Mumbai can also be gauged by the fact that the party’s debutant contestants too polled an impressive tally. For instance, Amit Satam defeated his Congress rival in Andheri (West) with a margin of 24,040 votes, pushing Sena’s Jaywant Parab to third place.
Atul Bhatkhalkar trounced Ramesh Singh Thakur of the Congress with a margin of 41,188 votes, with Sena’s Amol Kirtikar and MNS’ Akhilesh Chowbe falling far behind. Parag Alavani of the BJP has made his debut in the assembly by defeating Sena’s Shashikant Patkar in the Vile Parle constituency with a margin of 32,435 votes. “My Marathi friends who work for, say, J P Morgan or ICICI, set aside their linguistic tag and campaigned for me,” said Alavani. He secured an impressive margin in ward No. 79 in the Vile Parle constituency which has a high percentage of Marathi votes, he added.
On the other hand, many Sena first-timers could barely scrape through in the final round. For instance, Tukaram Kate won the Anushakti Nagar seat with a measly 1,007 votes, while in Kalina, Sena’s Sanjay Potnis won with a wafer-thin margin of 1,297 votes.
However, Sunil Shinde and Sunil Raut, both from the Sena, won the Worli and Vikhroli seat, respectively, with a 20,000-plus margin. Ditto with Prakash Phatarpekar in Chembur and Prakash Bala Sawant in Bandra (East).
According to Vinayak Kamat, secretary, Mumbai BJP, his party performed “very, very well” in Mumbai as it severed ties with the Sena. “Because of the Sena, BJP couldn’t strike deeper roots in the city. The Sena always claimed sole proprietorial rights over Mumbai. The poll results have brought us close to the city,” Kamat said.
“Our two-decade-plus partnership with Sena had nearly wiped our Marathi identity. We were seen as a party of Gujaratis. This election has helped us re-bond with Marathis,” said Alavani.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA