With Maharashtra's Municipal Corporation election results coming out, it is clear that the BJP has made inroads in Maharashtra, which was once the Shiv Sena's bastion. While the Shiv Sena is leading in the BMC polls, the victory is pyrrhic since the margin is very small.
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While the BJP had won only 31 seats in the 2012 BMC poll, they have bettered their show this time by leaps and bounds. The Sena has got a lead only in Mumbai and Thane. However, it has been unable to get a majority in Mumbai and will require an alliance to come to power. It has 84 wards out of 227 while the magic figure is 114.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's large-scale gestures to assuage the Maratha pride seems to have worked to its favour. Setting up a huge Shivaji statue that will cost Rs 3,600 crore ($530 million) in a state where farmer's debts run high and so does the rate of their deaths had rankled many leading to online petitions asking them to stop the construction. However, the statue may have worked in appeasing the Maratha pride, who were seeking reservation and led rallies in various states. The Centre's 'Make in India' event in Mumbai had also taken place with fanfare underlining the nationalist fervour.
The increase in hold on Maharashtra by the BJP might lead to an irreparable fault line between the two friends-turned-foes. The Shiv Sena has been aggressive and vocal with its criticism of the BJP lately, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party a "wild bull".
"I will not tie up with BJP in any of the future polls in any city or district council. From this day onward, Sena will tread a new path. For the last 25 years, we rotted in this alliance..If in the past Sena founder Bal Thackeray had not stood behind them (BJP), they would have been destroyed by now,'' Uddhav Thackeray had said in January.
What repercussions the BMC and other municipal corporations election results would have on their ties in the state and Centre is yet to be seen. The BJP's victory in other corporations is only expected to rankle the Shiv Sena, which has been an ally gone awry for Modi's party.
