Thackerays Still Rule Mumbai

Sena-BJP Wins 4th Term In BMC; Raj Rises, Cong Falls SHIV SENA + BJP + RPI 108 CONGRESS + NCP 64 MNS 28 SP 9OTHERS 18

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-BJP combine on Friday extended its 16-year stranglehold on the country's richest municipal corporation by another five years. It won 107 seats—and with the RPI pitching in with one—is only six short of the simple majority mark of 114 in the 227-member BMC. With three BJP rebels and three Independent 

Sena sympathizers also winning and indicating their willingness to support the two parties, the saffron coalition will not need to consider the option of looking elsewhere (read Raj Thackeray's MNS) to run the BMC. 
    Although the Sena-BJP tally dipped by eight seats from 115 in the 2007 civic elections, it's managed to retain office because of the sharp fall in the number of Congress seats from 71 to 50. Also, the Congress-NCP alliance, the first in BMC elections, was expected to help improve their total seat count, but it misfired. Among the reasons being ascribed for the dismal show are: 

• constant and public bickering between the two allies; 

• unhappiness in Congress ranks over seat distribution; 

• low turnout, in particular Congress-NCP's inability to get the voter out, whereas Sena's committed supporters thronged the booths; 

• Sena's aggressive advertising campaign against corruption in the Congress-led UPA in New Delhi; 

• chief minister Prithviraj Chavan's claim that a Sena defeat would make the party irrelevant galvanized Bal Thackeray's troops; 

• deft handling of Sena's candidate nomination process by Uddhav Thackeray. 
    Significantly, although the MNS's performance was impressive, Raj's dream of being king will have to wait. The Sena-BJP numbers are good enough to deprive him of a chance to be even kingmaker in a hung House. 
    The same combination that captured the BMC also won 62 seats in Thane, four short of the simple majority of 66 in the 130-seat TMC. 
    Sena chief Bal Thackeray proved that age has not dimmed his appeal. The 84-year-old patriarch showed that he still has a trick or two up his sleeve, by making an emotional 'sons-of-the-soil' pitch to voters. 
Muslim voters shun Congress 
    Muslim pockets, traditionally seen as Congress bases, voted heavily for either the SP or Independent candidates. In the Lotus Colony-Cheetah Nagar belt, 4 of the 7 winners were from the SP, two were Independents and one from the Shiv Sena. P 4 
MNS invades Sena's turf 
    The MNS on Friday dealt a psychological blow to the Shiv Sena by sweeping the Marathi heartland across Dadar, Mahim and Worli. P 2 Setback for CM, Pawar 
    The MNS too struck a chord among Maharashtrians, picking up 28 seats against its tally of 7 in 2007. It made a clean sweep of the seats in the Worli-Mahim area, bearding the lion, in this case the tiger, in his own den. 
    The outcome of the polls is being viewed as a major setback for both Chavan and NCP president Sharad Pawar, since both had vowed to dislodge the saffron combine. Much before the election campaign started in earnest, the duo alleged that the war between cousins Raj and Uddhav was taking its toll on Mumbai, and warned that if the saffron combine was voted back, plans to convert Mumbai into a world class city would be put in cold storage. 
    Although Sena-BJP fell short of a decisive majority, voters showed little enthusiasm to unseat the incumbent and hand over the reins of the city to Congress-NCP. 
    Ever since the civic polls were announced, the CM had made it his mission to dislodge the saffron combine. His contention was that there was rampant corruption in the BMC and funds meant for welfare schemes were being diverted for political purposes. He believed that if the Congress and the NCP, its ally at the state and Centre, contested the polls together, it would not be difficult to wrest control. 
    Chavan held deliberations with NCP president Sharad Pawar and an alliance between Congress and NCP was declared. 
    A day after the front was announced, Uddhav Thackeray, in consultation with senior BJP leaders and Dalit activist Ramdas Athavale, drafted a new strategy to tackle the Congress-NCP challenge. As part of this strategy, Uddhav ensured that names of official nominees were not declared publicly and instead, they were personally told to fill up the nomination forms. Secondly, he personally drafted a comprehensive multipronged advertisement strategy to lure voters. On the one hand, while he publicized the developmental work undertaken by the saffron combine, 'Karun Dakhavala' (we have done it), on the other he launched a broadside against Mumbai Congress Committee chief Kripashankar Singh, saying that in the event the Congress succeeded in gaining control over the BMC, it would mean that a Maharashtrian institution would be ruled by people from Uttar Pradesh. Simultaneously, a sustained campaign against rampant corruption in the Congress kept that party on the backfoot. 
    On Friday, while the Congress-NCP challengers were muted in defeat, the city resounded to the victorious call of the tiger and the cub.

"We have finished the Congress-NCP from Mumbai. Serves them right," said Uddhav Thackeray on Friday. The Sena executive president is seen here driving triumphantly near Sena Bhavan in Dadar after the final results were declared