BMC polls: Ascendant BJP makes Sena jittery

MUMBAI: Matoshree is worried that the BJP, flush with victory in the municipal council elections amidst the demonetisation brouhaha, may act tough with the Shiv Sena ahead of the BMC elections, it is learnt.
That Sena president Uddhav Thackeray chose to take a dig at the BJP in the wake of the municipal council polls is not without political significance. “The Sena didn’t issue any false promises and didn’t make tall assurances during the poll campaign,” Thackeray said on Tuesday.
Thackeray’s jibe was directed at BJP seniors, who reportedly wooed rural voters on a large scale by talking of bringing smaller towns under the Centre’s Smart City scheme if elected to power in the municipal council elections. Thackeray pointed out that the Sena activists at the grass-roots level worked tirelessly for the party’s victory.
Neither Thackeray nor his son, Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, joined the party campaign for the crucial polls. In sharp contrast, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis undertook a hurricane tour of rural regions to give a leg-up to the party’s poll campaign, a key BJP functionary pointed out. “The central leadership kept a hawk's eye on the poll situation in the state. Periodic reports on the campaign and popular mood in the wake of the demonetisation clamour were sent to (BJP national president) Amitji’s (Shah) office,” he added.
All senior Maharashtra BJP ministers were instructed to pitch their tents in their strongholds and monitor the nitty gritty of the campaign. Union minister for human resources Prakash Javdekar said the Maharashtra poll result will “hold a mirror to those who have been riling the Centre on demonetisation”.
Of the 147 municipal councils that went to the polls last Sunday, the BJP bagged 52 municipal councils as against the Sena’s tally of 25. This makes the BJP what the CM jubilantly described on Tuesday as the “No. 1 party in the state”. However, the BJP strategists are a tad worried over the Sena’s good showing at the hustings even when the Thackerays kept themselves away from the campaign, sources in the state BJP said.
That the party should lose in the political bastions of bigwigs such as Raosaheb Danve and Pankaja Munde has upset the central leadership, it is said. On the other hand, the Sena is upset with the party’s dismal showing in Sawantwadi and Deogad. The Congress (23) and the NCP (20) are trailing far behind the BJP-Sena in a clear indication that the statewide Maratha protest marches to demand job reservation and the scrapping of the anti-Atrocities Act failed to firm up the poll prospects of the NCP, which is seen as a predominantly Maratha party, and the Congress as well, analysts added.
The Maratha silent morchas, which were flagged off in July, may have led to new caste equations with the OBCs backing the saffon combine, said the BJP functionary. There is growing apprehension in the Sena that the BJP, armed with its impressive victory, may make every attempt to cut its Maharashtra ally to size in the upcoming Mumbai, Thane and other municipal corporations which are scheduled for February 2017.
“The BJP may act tough with us while finalizing the seat-sharing formula for the Mumbai, Thane and other municipal corporation elections. They will cite the municipal council poll results as proof of their growing political strength in the state. This will make matters difficult for us,” said a Sena legislator.