With just nine months to go for the BMC polls, Shiv Sena has started preparing to go solo in the elections.
With just nine months to go for the BMC polls, Shiv Sena has started preparing to go solo in the elections. Its workers have been informally told that the party will contest polls alone and the party has started systematic preparation from the booth level. Its leaders have started holding meetings, working on issues and mobilising the party’s traditional voters and also touching potential voters.
“We have already started working for the BMC polls and our party workers are holding meetings, going to people with issues, updating leaders over the ongoing works. It is clear that we will be contesting the polls separately after bitter experience of Assembly polls,” a senior Sena functionary said on condition of anonymity.
Giving reasons on why the party would contest the polls alone, the Sena leader said the BJP would demand more seats in the backdrop of their victory in the Assembly and Lok Sabha. “They will be demanding at least 150 seats out of 227 based on their tally in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, which is higher than ours. If we give them so many seats then how will our workers contest ” the leader added.
The BMC poll is a prestige issue for the Shiv Sena, which has been ruling it for over a decade. It is the most important local body with a budget of over Rs 37,000 crore. The Sena has announced various initiatives to woo voters in the city including public toilets, pothole-free roads, coastal road and a park at Mahalaxmi racecourse.
Another Sena leader talked of the manner in which BJP broke the alliance with Shiv Sena during the Assembly polls. “We do not want to have that bitter experience again and are treading cautiously this time. The leadership will announce about our stand but at present we have been asked to silently work on issues in the city and the state also,” he said.
The Sena at present has 75 members, BJP 31, Congress 52, NCP 7, MNS 27 and SP 9 in the BMC. There are 28 independents.
