The Shinde Sena drawing a blank in Vile Parle has come as a surprise to many political observers
BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to tighten its grip over Mumbai’s western suburbs. In the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance, all municipal wards in Vile Parle and Bandra West have gone to the BJP, leaving the Shinde Sena without a single seat in these two segments.
In the Charkop Assembly segment, represented by BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar, six of seven wards have gone to the BJP quota. Upset with this, a section of local Shinde Sena office-bearers quit the party and have joined the Congress. Similarly, in Borivli, the BJP has been allotted six of seven municipal wards, with one going to the Shinde camp.
The Shinde Sena drawing a blank in Vile Parle has come as a surprise to many political observers. Vile Parle was once considered a bastion of the undivided Shiv Sena. “The party should have secured at least two seats in each Assembly constituency,” said a local Shiv Sainik.
In late 1973, Dr Ramesh Prabhoo of the Shiv Sena had won the municipal elections from Vile Parle. He later went on to become Mumbai’s mayor in 1987-88, underlining the party’s once-strong organisational base in the locality. Over the past several years, however, the constituency has steadily come under BJP dominance.
The skewed allocation of seats for the Shinde-led Sena in these pockets has not gone down well with sections of the party’s local rank and file. “The party should have secured at least two seats in each Assembly constituency,” said a local Shiv Sainik.
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