Shiv Sena’s Diwali dhamaka: Poach BJP corporators

Shiv Sena’s Mission 115 for the upcoming municipal elections in February 2017 will entail augmenting its Gujarati voter base. For this, the party plans to rope in sitting Bharatiya Janata Party corporators from the Gujarati community to join them from Mulund, Ghatkopar, Kandivali and Malad among others. A source said after Diwali, a few Gujarati corporators would join Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Dr Neelam Gorhe claimed that party chief Uddhav Thackeray had clearly indicated the Sena would contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election independently. “He has taken opinions from party ministers, members of Parliament and legislators about the fate of alliance with the BJP during a meeting held on Thursday,” said Dr Gorhe.

Another source from Sena, who is from the inner circle of Mr Thackeray, revealed that Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray will be the face of the Sena for the BMC poll. “Aaditya Thackeray has taken the initiative aggressively. He is meeting every ward-level party functionary to understand the political issues with BJP. The Sena has bad experience with the BJP ‘back-stabbing’ it,” the source said.

Mission-115 is the agenda of the Yuva Sena chief who had also set Mission-150 for the 2014 Assembly poll in which it won 63 on its own after BJP broke the 25-year-old alliance with Sena.

“The Gujarati community has sizeable voters in Mulund, Ghatkopar, Malad and Kandivali. Gujarati and Marwadi communities are traditional voters of BJP till the last Assembly election. However, this community is feeling guilty for voting for the BJP,” said the source. It further elaborated that, “They are mainly traders community and they felt the ‘inspector raj’ would end during the Modi and BJP rule. On the contrary, traders are fed up with harassment by income tax officers and now with sales tax inspectors.”

More than 16 various organisations working with the Gujarati community are in contact with Mr Uddhav Thackeray and they are taking meetings within the community to build support for the Sena. There are four to five Gujarati corporators in the BJP and Congress who won in the 2012 poll.