Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) has begun dissecting the recent Lok Sabha results in great detail and is simultaneously preparing the candidate list for the assembly polls. Uddhav Thackeray has asked his party men to focus firmly on 38 assembly seats of Mumbai city and suburbs.
As per a senior leader, Uddhav may perhaps ask his alliance partners to give him 28 out of these seats. Uddhav wants the party to focus on Mumbai's south-central constituency, especially the Worli area where his son Aaditya won the MLA seat in 2019 and now faces the combined power of the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray’s MNS.
Uddhav’s Shiv Sena fared well in the Lok Sabha polls in Mumbai in certain constituencies. However, a major area of concern for the party is central Mumbai, where the party could not get the kind of lead it expected; like in Worli.
Statement Of Former State Minister Anit Parab
Speaking with the media, former State Minister Anit Parab said, “We are fully confident that we will get back our lead in Worli as we know that people vote differently in Lok Sabha polls and assembly polls. In assembly, it is more about the candidate as people have to go to that person for their work. In Lok Sabha, it’s about national issues.”
Large parts of the Mumbai south central Lok Sabha constituency, where Shiv Sena candidate Anil Desai won in the recent election, have been Shiv Sena (UBT)’s bastion. However, in the polls, the party thinks it did not get huge margins like in Mumbai South and Mumbai North East, especially in areas like Mankhurd, Govandi, Shivajinagar, and Anushakti Nagar. Analysts say this is because of the minority community votes going to Uddhav, Sharad Pawar, and the Congress alliance.
The party is now working on how to get back its traditional votes from its bastions, which may have been divided because of the split in the Shiv Sena. One BJP leader said discussions are underway between the BJP and MNS to hand over the Worli assembly constituency to Raj Thackeray’s party and MNS spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande could be contesting against Aaditya.
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