Uddhav Sena, MNS to announce alliance for BMC, other civic polls on Wednesday

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief party spokesperson Sanjay Raut announced here on Tuesday that an alliance to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Elections (BMC) election jointly by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray will be formally announced by both the leaders on Wednesday, at a 12 pm noon press conference.

“The Shiv Sena and the MNS are forming an alliance to contest the BMC and other municipal corporation elections. Tomorrow at 12 noon, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and MNS president Raj Thackeray will jointly interact with us and formally announce the alliance by 12.30 pm. Almost the entire process related to seat allocation was completed last night,” Raut told media persons on Tuesday.

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When asked how many municipal corporations, including Mumbai (BMC) the Thackeray cousins intend to fight together, Sanjay Raut replied, “We have definitely decided to contest together in major municipal corporations of Mumbai (BMC), Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander, Nashik and Pune. Discussions at the local level with leaders and workers of both parties in this regard are almost over.”

According to sources, the seat-sharing formula to contest the BMC election is that the Uddhav-led Sena will contest around 145 to 150 seats out of a total 227 wards in Mumbai, while the MNS will contest around 65 to 70 seats, leaving the remaining 10 to 12 seats for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which is likely to ally with the Thackeray cousins.

However, there is no guarantee that an alliance of the Thackeray cousins with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP will materialise, because the Sharad Pawar-led NCP is in talks with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to contest the Pune municipal elections together, which is not acceptable to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

“If both the NCPs come together in Pune, then Ajit Pawar has no right to remain in the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. If both the NCPs form an alliance, the (Uddhav Thackeray-led) Shiv Sena will not ally with them. There will be an alliance of MNS and the Uddhav-led Sena in Pune. If Congress wants to come with us in Pune, they can. We are in talks with the Congress about an alliance in Pune and Nashik,” Raut told media persons.

“We have come together to protect the country’s constitution. Sharad Pawar is our guide. He has been consistent in his position that Modi and Shah are killers of democracy. If our discussions with Sharad Pawar succeed today, then Sharad Pawar will also come to our press conference tomorrow (Wednesday),” Raut said.

Sources also said that Raut is still trying to get Congress to ally with the Thackeray cousins and he even called up Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, despite the Congress insisting that it will fight the BMC elections alone.

Meanwhile, sources stated that there is an internal battle between the Uddhav-led Sena and the MNS over a few key wards in Bhandup, Kandivali, Borivali, and Mulund suburbs, though much of it has been resolved. Yet, sources said that both the Uddhav-led Sena and the MNS are unwilling to give up their respective claims to contest a few key seats like Ward Number 114 in the Bhandup area of suburban central Mumbai.

The matter got deadlocked to such an extent that MNS chief Raj Thackeray had to call Bhandup MNS leader Anisha Majgaonkar to his ‘Shivtirth’ residence at Shivaji Park in Dadar West on Tuesday to settle the matter. At the time of going to the press, talks were still on at ‘Shivtirth’ in the evening.

Significantly, MNS chief Raj Thackeray has insisted that any official announcement about any alliance should be made only after this dispute has been resolved and the seat-sharing formula has been completely finalised.