I presume Uddhav Thackeray had been functioning with the assumption that the BJP is gentle in its approach and prefers to take insults rather than risk the disintegration of an alliance. This attitude of the Sena became increasingly formidable and visible over the course of the last five years as the party would, on a regular basis, target Prime Minister Modi and his policies despite being in coalition with the BJP both at the Centre and in Maharashtra. (Someone ignorant of India politics could quite easily mistake Saamana as the Marathi-version of National Herald – such has been the criticism of the BJP in the newspaper).
Even during the period post the declaration of results in Maharashtra, Sena blatantly went on to charter a course of lies and deceitfully took power, plunging a dagger in the back of its long-standing ally and millions of voters. Maybe Uddhav believed that if things go haywire and its unnatural alliance with the NCP and Congress breaks apart in the future then he can simply crawl back to the BJP, apologise and play the tune of Hindutva and once again resurrect the alliance. If at all Uddhav has any such notions then it would be opportune for him to shed them because the BJP has send its strongest signal that it doesn’t care for this tinpot political party anymore.
In a firm gesture of ending ties with Sena, the BJP has decided that it will contest the 2022 BMC elections on its own. Currently, the Sena has control over the BMC with Kishori Pednekar as the Mayor of Mumbai.
Should the Sena worry about this development? Definitely. To understand why it is necessary to look at the history of BMC elections.
- 1997: Sena (103), Congress (48), BJP (26)
- 2002: Sena (97), Congress (61), BJP (35), NCP (12)
- 2007: Sena (84), Congress (75), BJP (28), NCP (14), MNS (7)
- 2012: Sena (75), Congress (52), BJP (31), NCP (7), MNS (27)
- 2017: Sena (84), Congress (31), BJP (81), NCP (9), MNS (7)
Sena has always been the largest party with the Congress maintaining substantial presence. However, the 2017 BMC election changed quite a lot.
The BJP delivered its best performance with 81 corporators and nearly trumped Sena. Over the last three polls Sena has been restricted to a range well below the 100-mark while the BJP showed a rise of 162% in candidates elected in the last election.
The significant aspect is that the BJP attained its best performance in 2017, a year which is a part of a period that is undoubtedly the best in BJP’s electoral history. Or, one could say, that since 2014 the BJP is riding an extraordinary wave of popularity which continues till date. This showed even in the recent Maharashtra state polls where the BJP won seats at a strike rate of over 65% while Sena’s rate was about 45%. To add to this surge in popularity is the Sena’s betrayal of the BJP. Both combined surely portray a worrying situation for the Sena. They cannot take the 2022 BMC polls lightly.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is not just the country’s richest civic body but even Asia’s! Its budget for financial year 2019-20 crossed the Rs 30,000-crore mark for the second time in three years! The revenue income was estimated at Rs 24,984 crore which is an 8 percent increase over the previous budget.
Given the significance of the BMC it is very clear why the BJP has broken off ties with Sena and wants to establish control over the BMC and purge it of corruption and inefficiency.
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