The BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena have resolved to use Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Mumbai on January 19 to showcase their combined political might and improve bonding at the grassroots level ahead of the upcoming BMC elections. A joint meeting of the two alliance partners late on Sunday night went into the minute details of planning and coordination for the public rally at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex. A highly placed source in the BJP said, “Although CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis formed the coalition government in Maharashtra on June 30, this will be the first occasion the party workers of BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena can display a united front. They will come together on the same platform to show their collective might at the PM’s rally.” The Prime Minister during his visit to the country’s economic capital will inaugurate or lay the foundation stone for big-ticket projects like the metro, sewage treatment plants and a cancer hospital. State minister and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena spokesperson Deepak Kesarkar and BJP’s Mumbai president Ashish Shelar addressed members of both parties at the meeting which lasted three hours. A senior BJP functionary said, “Deepak Kesarkar exhorted both the BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena to leave no stone unturned to make this a grand rally. He also told party workers that Aaditya Thackeray’s growing attack against Shinde was a sign of his frustration as the Shiv Sena (UBT) is losing ground. They can sense their support base shrinking.” Shelar made an ardent appeal to both sides to give their best to make the PM’s rally a success. “We have been thinking of holding a public rally together. The PM’s visit has provided us the opportunity to fulfill our wish. We have to make it a mammoth show,” he said. A special hashtag — #MumbaiawaitsPM — has been created for the rally. Modi’s visit assumes significance as it will set the momentum for the upcoming BMC elections. The BJP-Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena alliance looks to end the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s three-decade rule in the BMC. In the 2017 BMC polls, the BJP and Shiv Sena contested separately despite being in an alliance in Maharashtra. The BJP won 82 seats, just two less than the Shiv Sena’s 84. The BMC's total strength is 227 seats. Shelar has this time set an ambitious target of 134 seats for the BJP in BMC. The party’s poll managers believe they will definitely cross the halfway mark along with Eknath Shinde’s party. However, BJP strategists know the challenges are plenty, with the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray whipping up the sympathy factor to retain its Marathi vote bank, which accounts up to 26 per cent. Moreover, the Congress and NCP have decided to contest the polls together as MVA. “The PM’s visit will help us showcase the mega projects for Mumbai,” a BJP leader said. Apart from a mammoth public turnout, the PM’s rally is expected to help the BJP and Balasahebanchi-Shiv Sena set aside differences and make the BMC polls a common cause. As a senior officebearer of Shinde faction said, “We are going to put up a collective show. When there is a sense of belonging, it helps to set aside internal differences.” A BJP rally coordinator said, “After the government formation we have a CM and dy CM. We have 18 ministers of both parties working together in the cabinet. But at the grassroots workers had confined themselves to their respective parties. Through the PM’s rally we will try to ensure greater bonding between BJP and Shinde faction workers. This is necessary for electoral success ahead.”
