The Bharatiya Janata Party has firmed up its plan to target the Shiv Sena in the coming Mumbai municipal elections, within two days of Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray declaring a bitter break-up with its ally of 25 years. Sources within the BJP told The Sunday Guardian that the party’s manifesto will have demands and promises that will land the Sena in trouble. While the Shiv Sena has already declared its manifesto for the coveted Mumbai municipal corporation elections, the BJP has not yet done so. “We were waiting for the alliance to take place. That is why we had put the manifesto and the candidates’ list on hold,” a senior BJP leader said. But now, the BJP will finalise its list of 227 candidates from a pool of short-listed 517 candidates.
In the manifesto for the Mumbai elections, the BJP is going to put forth the promise of conducting an audit of the municipal corporation’s budget. “No audit has been conducted for the past two years. We will conduct that audit. We will also end common people’s woes by ending Shiv Sena’s tax terrorism. The Sena, which has been ruling the BMC (MCGM or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai), has been imposing sewage tax, property tax, road tax, etc. For what should people pay these taxes if they don’t get the facilities? We will also amend the BMC Act. It was envisaged by the British when they ruled us. So, all the powers have been vested in the hands of the municipal commissioner. The mayor barely enjoys any powers. We will change that. This is our manifesto. It is ready now. It will be printed soon,” one of the top-most sources told The Sunday Guardian.
Uddhav Thackeray has declared that his party will not enter into an alliance with the BJP for any of the municipal corporation and zilla parishad elections slated to take place next month.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is heading the political campaigning for the local body elections, has already declared on Twitter that his party’s goal is transparency and progress. He and BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar addressed party workers during the Vijay Sankalpa Melava on Saturday.
Raosaheb Danve, president of BJP’s Maharashtra unit, told the media that the party was willing for an alliance until the last minute, but it did not get any response from the Shiv Sena. “We tried until the end for an alliance with the Shiv Sena. We were willing for another round of talks. But we did not get any response from the Sena,” he said.
In fact, both Fadnavis and Thackeray were ready for an alliance. But the rank and file within the two parties were not favourable towards the idea. Sources from within both parties said that they would do better individually.
SOUR POINTS FOR BJP
The BJP is unhappy that even though it has grown in strength in both Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena continues to treat it as the junior partner. “They want to be the big brother. Times have changed. And they should accept that. During the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections, which were fought by both parties individually, the BJP won 15 seats from Mumbai, whereas Sena won 14. Still, when it comes to talks on seat distribution, the Sena wants us to be happy with only 60 of the 227 seats. How is that possible?” a senior BJP minister said.
During his rally in Goregaon, Uddhav Thackeray referred to this point and said that it was insulting for Sena that the BJP demanded half of the seats for the Mumbai municipal corporation elections. He also called the BJP a party of “goons”.
The talks between Sena and BJP over seat distribution could not move beyond two rounds. While the BJP wanted 114 of the 227 seats, the Sena was adamant on giving it only 60. Later, it was ready to accommodate another 30-35 seats. “But the problem would not have ended there. Then they would have been adamant on the wards they wanted to keep for themselves. It was like a deadlock,” a senior BJP leader confided.
REASONS FOR SENA’S BITTERNESS
On the other hand, the Shiv Sena is bitter about the BJP. “Their behaviour with all their regional allies is autocratic. That is very hurtful. There is no transparency either in the state or in the Centre. We are a part of the NDA. But our ministers are not involved in any policy decisions. No consultations are held with us. It is the same story in the state Cabinet too. The reason why Uddhavji said that we have rotted ourselves in this alliance for 25 years, is precisely this. Until that changes, we are not going to consider any proposal of alliance from the BJP,” a senior Sena leader told The Sunday Guardian.
The date of filing the nomination began on 27 January. The deadline is until 3 February. Some parties have already released their first list of candidates for some wards. The BJP has until now shortlisted 517 candidates and will finalise the list of 227 candidates after another meeting of the parliamentary board and Mumbai party functionaries, sources said.
A total of 10 municipal corporations, including some of the most prominent ones, are going to the polls on 21 February. They include Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Nashik, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur. After the candidates are given time until 3 February to file their nominations, their papers will be scrutinised on 4 February. They will be able to withdraw their candidature by 7 February.