While in the popular imagination, only the BJP is recalled as the Shiv Sena's forever ally, and hence its coalition with the NCP and Congress seen as such a departure, in its 56-year history, the party has seen several friends. At the start, the Sena was an avowedly anti-Communist party and made its first successful electoral foray in the Thane Municipal Corporation polls of 1967, winning 17 out of 40 seats. A year later, it won 42 of 121 seats in the civic elections for Bombay (as Mumbai was called then), after forming an alliance with the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). The PSP was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J B Kripalani. This was a surprising choice for the Sena, given the PSP's ideology, and the fact that it would later break up into many Janata Party factions. In less than two years, the relationship soured, after the PSP led by Madhu Dandavate in the state criticised the Sena for its alleged role in the murder of Communist Party of India (CPI) legislator Krishna Desai in 1970. Searching for allies in the 1973 Bombay civic polls, the Sena then joined hands with the Republican Party of India, winning 39 seats. With the overarching dominance of the Congress in the national political scene, the Sena next reached out to the Congress. In the 1974 Lok Sabha bypoll for the Central Mumbai seat, the Sena extended its support to Congress candidate Ramrao Adik. While Adik lost to CPI candidate Roza Deshpande, it didn't seem to affect the Sena and Congress understanding. In 1977, Bal Thackeray supported Congress candidate Murli Deora’s bid for the mayoral election in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Sena also backed the Congress in the 1977 general election as well as the 1978 Maharashtra Assembly polls. While it did not contest the Lok Sabha polls, it put up contestants for the Assembly elections, none of whom won. This alliance continued in the 1980 Assembly elections as well, with the Sena campaigning for the Congress without putting up any candidates of its own, and being rewarded with three nominations in the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The relationship finally broke permanently in the backdrop of the 1982-83 textile mill workers' strike across Mumbai. The Sena, mindful of the fact that the handling of the strike by the Congress could antagonise its support base in Central Mumbai, decided to end ties with the Congress. By then, the Sena had started getting close to the BJP, which was formed out of the Jan Sangh in 1980. In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the Sena allied with the BJP on two Lok Sabha seats, but lost both. The BJP itself won only two seats across the country in the polls held after Indira Gandhi's assassination. A year later, the Sena went it alone in the 1985 Assembly elections after testing waters in a prospective alliance with the Indian Congress (Socialist) Party, which was helmed by Sharad Pawar. Only one Sena candidate was successful, Chaggan Bhujbal. But proving that it was now a force to reckon with in Mumbai, the Sena won the BMC elections that year, bagging 74 of the 139 seats despite contesting alone. In 1989, with Hindutva gaining currency as a political ideology in the wake of the BJP's Ram temple movement, the Sena found an ally in it for both the Lok Sabha as well as Maharashtra Assembly elections. This was a turning point for the Sena's politics too, which was till then more about regional pride than religious. Soon after, in 1992-93, the Sena was accused of having a principal hand in the Hindu-Muslim riots following the Babri Masjid demolition, and the violence after the Mumbai serial blasts. The Sena-BJP alliance lasted for 15 years, till September 2014. The BJP had earlier that year swept to power with overwhelming majority at the Centre, riding on the Modi wave, while the Sena itself was weakened following the death of Bal Thackeray in 2012. On September 29, 2014, Eknath Khadse, who was then in the BJP, rang up Uddhav Thackeray to drop a bombshell: the BJP would contest the coming Assembly elections by itself. While following the polls, the two sides again joined hands, their relationship was never the same again. In the days following the 2019 results, a disagreement over power sharing drove the Shiv Sena away from the BJP camp and into the arms of the Congress-NCP, where it has been ensconced ever since. Since then, the Shiv Sena has seen a bruising split, engineered by the BJP, as well as lost power. Come the Andheri East bypoll then, in a few days from now, the Uddhav Sena will enter the election with its new set of partners.
