Mumbai, November 30: After leaving the Shiv Sena bleeding with a hundred cuts the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray may give the rancour a brief burial. If the Sena manages to hold on to the mayor’s post again, it could well be Raj’s gift to his embattled uncle Bal Thackeray.
The Congress, upbeat after victories in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, is wooing dissatisfied corporators from the Sena-BJP camp to weaken the saffron alliance’s hold over the municipal corporation. In such an eventuality, the MNS could steady the Sena’s boat and lead them to a win on December 1.
Sources in the MNS camp told that the six corporators from the party might be asked not to support either the Sena or the Congress nominees for the mayor’s post. The “neutral” stand will help Sena retain the post.
Getting his party’s candidate elected to the mayor’s post is the first major challenge for Balasaheb, who has taken charge after the Sena took a severe knocking in the assembly polls. Battling hard to stem infighting in the ranks, the Sena will be put to test on December 1, the day of the election. The party has presided over the post for over a decade now.
The Sena-BJP alliance has 115 corporators in the 225-member municipal corporation. The Congress-NCP combine has 97. The MNS has six corporators and the Samajwadi Party (SP) seven. Even as the Congress camp tries to win over “vulnerable” components, a victory looks distant without the support of the MNS and the SP.
And, even if the MNS were to change its strategy in the final leg and join the Congress camp, it may well work in Sena’s favour. Samajwadi party leader Abu Azmi has asserted that if Congress seeks MNS support, then his party won’t align itself with it.
For the record, MNS spokesperson Shirish Parkar said his party will decide its strategy on Monday.The Congress camp, however, will not give up a fight. Its strategy is to make corporators from the Sena-BJP camp abstain from voting. The party has nominated a Narayan Rane supported corporator Presila Kadam for the post. Kadam will take on Sena’s Shraddha Jadhav.
The Rane camp has already held talks with two corporators from the Arun Gawli-led Akhil Bhartiya Sena, both of whom are part of the saffron alliance. Rane’s son Nitesh insists that talks are also being held with other disgruntled elements in the Sena-BJP camp.
“I can tell you that their number is more than seven.” Without the MNS’s support, the Congress camp will have to ensure at least 13 Sena-BJP corporators. Both the Shiv Sena and the BJP held meetings on Sunday to keep their flock intact. Corporators from the alliance have been instructed to remain present at the civic headquarters three hours before elections begin on December 1.
—Agencies