Battlelines drawn for Mumbai civic polls

Mumbai, Jan 14: With the Congress and NCP deciding to go separate ways, the battle to wrest control of the high profile Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with an annual budget of nearly Rs 12,000 crore has taken an interesting turn.

Political observers believe that the run at the hustings may not be as smooth as predicted for the Congress after its seat sharing talks with the NCP failed.

With the advent of the third front, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on one hand and the Shiv Sena-BJP on the other, a multi-pronged contest is on cards for the February one elections.

The division of secular votes is surely going to benefit the saffron combine which is making an all-out attempt to retain its stronghold over the nation's richest civic body. The Shiv Sena-BJP has been ruling the prestigious civic body for more than a decade now.

With the exit of heavyweight leaders like Narayan Rane from the Sena and Thackeray senior's estranged nephew Raj Thackeray openly criticising the leadership of his cousin, Uddhav Thackeray, Congress leaders had initially felt that the time was ripe to give the Sena a run for its money in its own den.

The Congress was already bouyed by its victory in five Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai and 16 Assembly segments in 2004 elections.

The only thing common among all the contesting parties is this that all of them will have to contend with rebellion in its ranks.

However, Congress leaders feel that it is the NCP who would have to bear the maximum brunt of rebellion and the presense of third front candidates in the fray. They are of the view that Congress voters will remain intact with the party.

''Mr Ramdas Athavale, the brain behind the new front has always been associated with Mr Sharad Pawar. Now with the NCP contesting separately, the third front candidates would harm the prospects of the NCP more than that of the Congress,'' a Congress leader said. ''MNS will dent into Shiv Sena votes. Narayan Rane supporters have been fielded in about 40 constituencies which are considered Shiv Sena strongholds. He will work very hard to defeat Shiv Sena candidates in these wards comprising mostly Marathi speaking population from the Konkan region,'' he added.

Congress plans to capitalise on the efforts of the State and Central Government towards the development of Mumbai, like the upgradation of basic amenities as well as the improvement of road and rail networks in the last two years.

''No other government has given so much hope of a new lease of life to the metropolis than the present government. We will capitalise on this aspect during our campaign,'' sources said adding that the work of upgrading the infrastructure of Mumbai has already begun and results would be seen in a few years.

Mumbai Congress sources say that the party's city unit had to spend 15 days to discuss seat sharing adjustments because of the pressure of their leaders in Delhi.

''We knew that the NCP was never serious for an alliance and hence we had prepared ourselves to go alone eventually,'' they disclosed.

According to them, Congress was apprehensive that the NCP would put up rebels in 162 seats where Congress was contesting apart from the 65 official candidates elsewhere if the alliance had materialised.

''Now at last we are in a free atmosphere to contest all the 227 seats,'' Mumbai Congress President Gurudas Kamat said.

NCP on the other hand is trying to project that it was the first one who took the initiative for an alliance to keep away communal forces and despite its growing strength in Mumbai agreed for 65 seats much to the chargin of its party workers.

''Congress did not treat us properly,'' NCP leaders said adding that the Congress had false notions about its strength in the city.

They said that in 2004, Congress won five Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai because of NCP support.

Political observers say that as the campaign is yet to build up, it is too early to guage the mood of the city's electorate. MNS was the first to hit the trail and release the list of its candidates.

Mr Raj Thackeray's meetings too have evoked overwhelming response.

However, it remains to be seen whether the large gatherings would translate into votes for the party.

Similarly, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray addressed his party workers from Mumbai late last month to galvanise his cadre. The meeting was well attended and Mr Thackeray who made his speech, sitting on a chair for the first time, infused enthusiasm in the morale of his workers.

While Congress President Sonia Gandhi addressed a public meeting on December 23 at Shivaji Park, which was actually dubbed as a party function to mark the 121st foundation day of the Congress, the meeting was well attended and Mumbai Congress president Gurudas Kamat managed to pull off an impressive show to galvanise his city unit workers into an election mode.

UNI