Deal done, Sena is one up on the BJP

The Shiv Sena emerged the dominant partner in Mumbai and Thane as the saffron alliance formally announced its pact for the October 13 Assembly polls in the city, reports Rajendra Aklekar.

The Shiv Sena emerged the dominant partner in Mumbai and Thane as the saffron alliance formally announced its pact for the October 13 Assembly polls in the city on Saturday.

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While the Sena will contest 169 seats across the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party 119, in the Mumbai-Thane-Konkan region alone, the Sena will put up candidates in 53 constituencies. The BJP will contest 22 seats.

The pact was announced by Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and BJP leader Gopinath Munde, both of whom said they were confident of wresting power from the Congress-NCP.

In Mumbai and Thane, the Sena’s tally is up by 12 as compared to the arrangement for the 2004 polls. It thus gets a shot at exploiting the post-delimitation scene where seats in urban areas have increased, making them vital in the numbers game.

The number of seats in the two cities — 34 and 13 respectively in 2004 — has gone up to 36 and 24. “The Sena-BJP had a 20:14 formula for Mumbai in 2004; it’s 23:13 now. For Thane, the ratio changes from 8:5 to 17:7,” a Sena office-bearer said.

The BJP’s decision to concede Guhagar in coastal Ratnagiri has led to sitting MLA Vinay Natu’s rebellion.