Civic polls: Mahayuti partners, Sena (UBT)-MNS hold talks to firm up alliance, seat-sharing

Mumbai, Dec 16 (PTI) Ruling Mahayuti partners, Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS on Tuesday were involved in separate parleys as rival parties in Maharashtra held talks to firm up alliances and deliberated on seat-sharing for the January 15 civic body polls, including in Mumbai.

The meetings were largely focussed on the high-stakes battle in Mumbai with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut meeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray.

Speaking to reporters, Raut said his party and MNS will join hands for the upcoming civic polls in Mumbai, Mira-Bhayander , Kalyan-Dombivli, Thane, Pune and Nashik, with a formal announcement likely in the coming week.

"There is no problem in announcing the alliance (between Shiv Sena-UBT and MNS) in the coming week. Both the brothers, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, will be seen on stage for the announcement," Raut said to a question on the tie-up.

On a tie-up with the Congress, Raut said stated that he spoke to the top Congress leadership, urging the party to contest the civic body polls as part of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which he believes should also include the Raj Thackeray-led MNS.

However, the Congress top brass has left the matter to the local leadership to decide, he added.

Both Opposition as well as the ruling Mahayuti asserted that Mumbai will see a Marathi mayor.

Talking to reporters after a meeting between Shiv Sena and the BJP, Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam stressed the ruling alliance was working with a clear focus on crossing the 150-seat mark in India's largest civic body.

"Our discussions are aimed at ensuring Mahayuti candidates win across all 227 wards, with a clear objective of securing 150-plus seats in the BMC," Satam told reporters.

BJP leader and minister Ashish Shelar, however, ruled out any alliance with the NCP, a key member of the ruling Mahayuti, for the Mumbai civic polls.

Targeting the BJP over its stand on the NCP, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar claimed that the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra would deliberately keep the Ajit Pawar-led NCP out of civic poll tie-ups to divide the secular votes.

An NCP leader, however, said the party had been preparing for civic polls for a long time and holding weekly meetings to strengthen its organisation in Mumbai. "After consultations with Ajit Pawar (Deputy CM who also heads NCP), we will decide the exact number of seats we will contest. In multi-cornered local elections, individual candidates matter," he noted.

On Monday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the BJP and Shiv Sena will contest the civic polls together in most places while there will be friendly contests between the BJP and NCP in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

On the Congress part, its Mumbai president Varsha Gaikwad said her party would fight the next month's elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on local civic issues, and the voters would not fall for the BJP's 'religious agenda.' Imtiaz Jaleel of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which is fringe player in the state but enjoys support in Muslim dominated pockets, said it will contests seats in 27 of the 29 civic corporations in Maharashtra, including Mumbai, going to polls in January and was open to tie-ups with like-minded outfits and Opposition MVA.

He did not elaborate on how many seats the party will contest, but added its candidates will be announced by December 22 or 23 for the January 15 polls.

On Tuesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray also targeted the BJP for taking credit of the work done by his party. At a party event, he urged Shiv Sena (UBT) workers to take forward the work done by the unidivided Shiv Sena for Mumbai from 1997 to 2022 when it ruled the BMC.

More than one crore voters are eligible to cast their votes and decide who will rule the BMC for the next five years, when polls to the country's richest civic body are held.

The BMC published the final electoral rolls on its official portal, which shows there are 1,03,44,315 voters across all 227 wards.

High-stakes polls to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the cash-rich Mumbai, will see the Mahayuti and MVA battling it out for electoral supremacy in the state's major urban centres. Votes will be counted on January 16. PTI MR PR ND AW KK KRK GK NP RSY