Mumbai: Shiv Sena will contest 135, BJP 63
and RPI 29 seats in the Mumbai municipal corporation polls
scheduled next month, it was announced here on Thursday.
The decision was announced at a joint briefing held by
leaders of the Sena-BJP-RPI combine in Dadar this evening. The
development comes two days after Congress-NCP formalised their
alliance for the BMC polls.
Asked if the combine's main rival in the polls would be
Congress-NCP or MNS, led by estranged cousin Raj, Sena
executive president Uddhav Thackeray said, "politically
speaking, there are none. We are contesting the polls on basis
of the work we have done. Others don't have any agenda."
BJP state unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar and RPI leader
Ramdas Athawale were also present during the announcement. "We
are with the Sena-BJP due to the bad experience we had when
with Congress," Athawale said.
Sena chief Bal Thackeray will address two campaign
meetings, one in Mumbai and the other in Thane, Uddhav said.
The Congress-NCP's decision to contest the BMC poll as
poll partners had set the alarm bells ringing in the
Sena-BJP-RPI combine.
As per the Congress-NCP poll pact, Congress will contest
169 seats in the 227-strong BMC while the NCP will contest 58.
The Congress-NCP poll tie-up is perceived as a threat to
the Sena-BJP combine's two decade-plus rule in the country's
richest civic body.
The Congress-NCP had drubbed the Sena-BJP from Mumbai in
the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, with the Congress annexing five
out of the six Lok Sabha seats, while the NCP won one seat.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 21:38