NEW DELHI: The Thackeray family – regarded as the ‘first family’ in Mumbai political circles – took a step closer to a grand electoral reunion Monday morning, after sources said a seat-share agreement had finally been agreed for next month’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.
It will mark the first time in 20 years the two biggest members of the Thackeray clan will contest an election on the same side as each other.
The Congress, meanwhile, does not figure in this arrangement at all, a circumstance that some believe underlines tension within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), particularly after the Thackeray brothers reunited. It is hopeful of political comeback despite blow to MVA in Maharashtra local body polls.
Dalits, Muslims, and other socially weaker communities stood with the Congress in times of major crisis, and reposed their faith in India’s oldest political force.
The Maharashtra urban local body election results are not unexpected, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party. However, the Congress has shown its political prowess in the polls, posing a minor challenge to the ruling alliance.
The success is credited to Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Lok Sabha MP Pratibha Dhanorkar, and Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal.
Of the total 34 nagar parishad president posts won by the Congress, eight seats were in Chandrapur district and three were in Buldhana district.
Vishwajit Kadam was also able to retain his fort, but former MPCC president Nana Patole and Congress MLA Amit Deshmukh failed to retain the ground.
In the urban local body polls, the BJP has bagged 120 nagar parishad president posts out of 288, while Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 56, and DCM Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 36.
Sources within the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) said the Sena will contest 157 of the BMC’s 227 seats and cousin Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena the other 70.
That leaves Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party – part of the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi opposition alliance, with the Congress – without an independent share of seats.
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