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Wooing rebels to set house in order

Sena-BJP-RPI need support from 6 Independents to gain majority in the BMC.

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With Harish Shukla, a Shiv Sena rebel leader from Kurla, agreeing to rejoin the party on Saturday, Sena’s tally in the Mumbai civic polls has gone up to 76.

Along with the BJP (31) and RPI (1), that number reaches 108.

This means the alliance needs support from six Independents to reach the magic number of 114 to gain majority.
Although it might seem easy to bridge that gap of six seats, the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance is presently reeling under pressure which could stretch till the last minute.

Without wasting much time, Sena’s executive president Uddhav Thackeray has started charting out the list of prospective Independents that could join the alliance. According to sources, Bhavana Mangela, daughter-in-law of Pandurang Mangela and who won as an independent candidate from Andheri, is likely to join Shiv Sena.

Speculation also points to Jyoti Alavani, wife of Parag Alavani – a former BJP leader who had rebelled against the party after his wife was denied a ticket – coming back to the BJP.  It has also been learnt that Shiv Sena is trying to woo Alavani as well. When asked about the chances of him and his wife joining Shiv Sena, Parag Alavani said that all he cared about was the “Hindutva cause”.

Even the RPI has a chance of roping in a candidate who rebelled against them earlier. Manoj Sansare, is expected to join either RPI or Shiv Sena. With this, their score would reach 111.

During the last term, two corporators from Arun Gawli’s Akhil Bhartiya Sena (ABS) – Geeta and Vandana Gawli – had announced their support to the saffron alliance so that they could form the ruling front. If the same support continues, it would take the number to 113.

While a necessity has emerged, both the Shiv Sena and BJP have decided to reward the Independents, and rebels, well.

“Those who would be re-joining the party will be given enough incentives so that they feel respectable. Even after the mathematics works in our favour, we would prefer to get one or two independents to claim clear majority in the house”, said a senior Sena leader. “We can promise them a place in important committees like improvement or the standing committee,” he added.

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