Mumbai: Mumbai voters seem to have voted emotionally, reacting positively to Udhav Thakarey’s appeal in the name of Balasaheb.
Sena has a sure lead in 94 seats – they require 114 for absolute power over BMC.
BJP is at 54. Congress, which had hopes of benefiting from the Sena – BJP rift is a poor third at 24.
Sena has bettered its earlier performance so seems to have actually benefited from the rift.
And no – even if Sena does not get absolute majority, they will not join hands with BJP again. All their leaders speaking on various TV channels have made that amply clear. In fact there is such bad blood between the two allies, who are still ruling the state together, that their workers are clashing right now on the streets of Mumbai.
Surprisingly, even BJP has benefited from the break-up, they have emerged stronger than before. All credit to C.M. Devendra Fadnavis who campaigned vigorously in Mumbai and rest of the state.
It is the worst performance for Congress in 20 years. Has its infighting, not just in Mumbai, but Nagpur too, led to this dismal performance.
The results are not even out yet and Rane, a former Sena man who joined Congress over 15 years ago, and Sushil kumar Shinde too have already begun blaming Sanjay Nirupam, President of city Congress in Mumbai. One leader also blamed MIM for diverting Muslim votes that would have definitely gone to Congress otherwise.
Latest news is that Sanjay Nirupam has offered his resignation.
So, in the final analysis, issues like the rampant corruption in BMC, the highly toxic and polluting dump yards at Deonar, flooding during monsoons etc. have been irrelevant. The Mumbai ‘manoos’ has voted clearly on emotions.
