Mumbai: Raj Thackeray in soup as 6 MNS corporators join Udhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena

Just as his party was gearing up for a comeback, Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has been hit with a big catastrophe - six out of his seven corporators in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have joined the Shiv Sena. And the split in the party has been engineered by none other than Raj's own cousin Uddhav Thackeray.

Friday was a day of hectic political activity in Mumbai. After the by-polls in Bhandup yesterday BJP's tally in the BMC has gone up and now it is just one seat behind Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena was under threat that it may lose the Mayor's post if BJP overtakes their tally.

Immediately after that on Friday, six MNS corporators including senior party leaders Dilip Lande, Archana Bhalerao, Parmeshwar Kadam, Ashwini Matekar, Harshala More and Datta Narvankar, requested the Mumbai Divisional Commissioner to register the group of these six rebel MNS corporators as a separate group.

MNS wrote to the Divisional Commissioner and also sought an anti-corruption probe against these corporators alleging large-scale horse trading.

It was not only the MNS; BJP MP Kirit Somaiyya too jumped into the controversy and wrote a letter to the State Election Commission to immediately take cognizance of the matter and stop undemocratic practices. "Our ally Shiv Sena kidnapped these corporators and offered them a bribe of 3 crores each" alleged Somaiyya.

But Shiv Sena was undeterred. Uddhav Thackeray welcomed these corporators into the party calling it 'ghar wapsi' of original Shiv Sainiks. Though these corporators were poached from MNS, the episode has triggered a war of words between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"Donkeys should not talk about horse trading...If the BJP is our ally, why should they have any problem in this? BJP should not talk about poaching members from other parties, something have they done in Goa and other states," said Uddhav.

The jolt by Shiv Sena has now left the MNS with just one corporator in the BMC. The MNS, for now, hasn't reacted yet.

Why are numbers so important in this poaching drama?

In the house of 227, in the 2017 BMC Elections, Shiv Sena won 84 seats. BJP finished a close second with 82. Shiv Sena, however, managed support of three independents, while BJP managed two.

One BJP corporator passed away recently but with the Bhandup by-polls going in its favour, BJP managed to keep its numbers intact. But the Sena has sensed that ahead of the 2019 elections, BJP may try to exert pressure on the Shiv Sena by wrestling the BMC from them.

Friday's developments will certainly lead to more political fireworks in days to come.