‘Land of the loom’ returns to Shiv Sena

Sada Sarvankar, who returned to the Shiv Sena before this election after a forgettable outing with the Shiv Congress, won in Mahim, which includes the Dadar-Shivaji Park belt, home to Sena Bhavan and therefore hugely symbolic for the party. In addition, NCP minister and long time unionist for the mill workers, Sachin Ahir, lost in Worli. Shivadi, which includes the Marathi heartland of Dadar-Parel-Lalbaug, was also won by the Sena. Clearly, the mill lands are back with the Shiv Sena, its Marathi asmita or Marathi pride card having appealed to many here.

If Sarvankar, the prodigal son, returned to win the Sena’s fortress back in Mahim, it was Sena corporator Sunil Shinde who defeated Ahir in Worli constituency and Ajay Chaudhary who won Shivadi.

Both Shivadi and Mahim were with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, making their recapture a matter of prestige for the Shiv Sena.

“Our party chief Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that he wanted to see saffron flags aflutter when he starts from Matoshree in Bandra for Sena Bhavan in Dadar. Aamhi gadh jinkla (We won the fortress ). We worked day and night for this seat. We remained connected with locals. This is the gift we would like to give as party worker to our party chief, Thackeray,” said Surykant Lade, president of Apang Shay Sena, a wing of the Sena for the disabled.

“This was not an easy fight for all the candidates. All the parties had stood a Marathi candidate from this seat. This win is due to the effort the Sena has taken in the area, not just a miracle against any political party,” added Lade.

The MNS factor had hit the Sena in the 2009 election, dividing Marathi votes critically. Then again in the corporation election of 2012, the Sena regained some ground but Mahim and Dadar remained with the MNS.

“The MNS factor was in play this time, too, but the candidate, sitting MNS MLA Bala Nandagaonkar, was not connected to locals here. The Marathi manoos felt disconnected with him and that is why Ajay Chaudhary from Sena won indicating that marathi manoos is still connected with Sena in Parel, Lalbaug, the heartland of the marathi manoos ,” said Vinod Patkar a Shiv Sainik.

“Sardesai, too, lost Mahim constituency despite his clean image because he could not remain connected with the locals. The MNS tag had taken him across the state but he was unavailable to Marathi manoos here,” added Patkar.