Mumbai could see a triangular fight in civic polls

The party is not making any efforts to take Shiv Sena on board as they believe that Sena leadership is planning to contest the polls on its own

Mumbai Eknath Shinde-led rebellion in Shiv Sena changed political equations in Maharashtra. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP0, one of the allies of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) that was planning to forge an alliance with Shiv Sena for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll, is now looking to join hands with Congress.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis meets MNS chief Raj Thackeray, at his residence in Mumbai on Friday (Nitin Lawate/ANI)

The party is not making any efforts to take Shiv Sena on board as they believe that Sena leadership is planning to contest the polls on its own. It means the civic polls may see a triangular contest between the BJP-Shinde-MNS axis, Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP alliance.

Shiv Sena’s decision to support Droupadi Murmu, a candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the presidential election is being seen as a signal of a virtual end to the MVA days following a coup within Sena and the replacement of Eknath Shinde as Maharashtra chief minister.

On Friday, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis met MNS chief Raj Thackeray at his residence. The meeting assumes significance considering the hardcore Hindutva stand taken by him.

NCP and Shiv Sena leadership were in-principally given their consent to hold an alliance for the BMC elections. Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab and NCP leader Nawab Malik were about to start the seat-sharing discussions. Before that Malik was arrested by the enforcement directorate (ED) over money laundering charges in March, the NCP insiders said.

But in the current scenario, the chances for an alliance between the two allies for BMC appear unlikely as even if Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray chose not to bow to the pressure tactics of Eknath Shinde and BJP, according to the NCP leaders.

“Shinde-led faction and BJP are likely to contest the BMC polls on ‘Hindutva’ and ‘Marathi Manoos’ plank and thus efforts are to bring MNS chief Raj Thackeray closer. If Shiv Sena takes NCP along then their stand on ‘Hinduvta’ will be diluted and Shinde led faction and BJP will use the same against Shiv Sena in the polls,” said an NCP leader

A Shiv Sena leader confirmed that both Sena and NCP were on the same page over holding an alliance for BMC polls. “Things could have been materialized then but it is difficult to say what is going to happen now as the current situation is very fluid. Things are changing really fast and no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow,” said the Sena leader, on the condition of anonymity.

However, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday asserted that the MVA allies should stick together in contesting the upcoming elections. “If Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena contested the Maharashtra polls together then the people will get a chance to make their decision. It is my personal opinion as no discussion has happened on this front,” Pawar said in Nagpur.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said that there are no talks happening between the MVA allies over the alliance. “Even if Pawar saheb is saying that the MVA allies should contest together, there is no sign of talks between Shiv Sena and NCP for holding an alliance. Congress has been out of the question as the party had already declared contesting elections on their own,” Kayande said.

In a recent meeting with the NCP Mumbai unit, party supremo Sharad Pawar asked them to decide within a fortnight with whom they want to have an alliance for BMC polls.

Atul Londhe, chief spokesperson of Maharashtra Congress said that the policy of the party is to go solo in the local body polls. However, if the local unit decides to form an alliance then a decision will be taken accordingly. “Our priority is to defeat BJP and if the local body wants to forge an alliance with NCP then the party will take its decision,” Londhe said.