BMC elections: Shiv Sena plans 'understanding' with Congress

MUMBAI: With newly appointed city Congress president Bhai Jagtap saying he was not in favour of an alliance with the Shiv Sena for the BMC elections slated for early 2022, Sena strategists have said that instead of a formal alliance, the party may have an 'understanding' with the Congress in key areas to defeat the BJP.
While no formal talks have taken place between the Sena and Congress on a possible alliance for the civic polls, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had last month suggested the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies-the Sena, Congress and NCP -fight all elections, including the BMC polls, together.
A senior Sena functionary said it would be difficult to adjust the Congress in an alliance since the Sena has for decades contested over 200 seats in the 227-member BMC. "There is a new city Congress chief. So it is expected that he will pitch to go solo at least for now to galvanise their cadre. The Congress still has a strong presence in several pockets and they will not concede to less than 80-100 seats. It won't be possible for us to give seats to the Congress and NCP both. If we do that and end up contesting only 125 seats, then we won't be able to come close to the halfway mark of 114 on our own," the functionary said.
Currently, the Sena has 97 corporators, BJP has 83, Congress has 29, NCP has 8 (one NCP corporator was disqualified), the Samajwadi Party (SP) has 6, the MNS, MIM and Akhil Bhartiya Sena (ABS) have one corporator each.
Transport minister Anil Parab, a key Sena strategist, said that the party had already begun its data crunching for the BMC elections. "Preparations are on in full swing. However, any call on the alliance will be taken by top leaders of the three parties," he said.
The functionary said the party could have an understanding in around 40-50 seats. "We have to ensure that the Congress wins at least 50 seats, only then will there be a gap between the Sena and BJP. Usually parties have a 50% strike rate in BMC polls, so we have to fight at least 200 seats and the Congress will have to fight at least 100 seats. We can have an understanding in slum pockets and minority seats where the Congress has a base," the functionary said.
"In Muslim belts and pockets, there will be no direct vote transfer from Sena to Congress or the other way around. So an understanding will work better. We can have an alliance with the NCP, which would seek a much smaller share of seats," the functionary said.