Good show in Sena heartland

The mill lands in central Mumbai — seen as Sena heartland — witnessed a large turnout with the Shiv Sena versus Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) tussle out in the open.

The mill lands in central Mumbai — seen as Sena heartland — witnessed a large turnout with the Shiv Sena versus Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) tussle out in the open.

Long queues of voters were seen across areas like Lalbaug, Parel and Dadar. The voter turnout was 48.49%.

Though the belt was once an impregnable bastion of the Shiv Sena, in recent years support for the party has eroded. Evidence of this is that two sitting corporators, Nana Ambole from Parel and former mayor Milind Vaidya from Matunga, are facing a tough time from dissidents. Former Sena corporator Snehal Jadhav has made way for her husband Sudhir, fighting on MNS ticket. “If the rebels poll more votes, it would prove disastrous,” said Parag Chavan, former Sena corporator.

Shiv-Sena-supremo-Bal-Thackeray-along-with-son-Uddhav-and-grandson-Aditya-after-casting-votes-for-corporation-elections-in-Mumbai-PTI-Shashank-Parade

The decline started when three Sena legislators — Kalidas Kolambkar, Sada Sarvankar and Bala Nandgaonkar — quit the party. The first two joined the Congress while the latter joined the MNS. Kolambkar has fielded his son Prathamesh from ward no 185 against MNS’ Sudhir Jadhav. Sarvankar’s son Samadhan fighting against Sena’s Prakash Ayare in ward no 182.