Sena's tiff with Kirit Somaiya puts BJP in trouble

Mumbai: Though the BJP and Shiv Sena have decided to bury the hatchet and fight together in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Mumbai North East constituency still continues to be a bone of contention between the two parties.

While the BJP has almost made up its mind to field current MP Kirit Somaiya from the seat, it faces an uphill task to pacify its alliance partner’s workers, who have threatened not to campaign for him.

After making a formal announcement of alliance, the top leaders of both the BJP and Sena have started to weed out the differences among their party workers. For this, they have also started holding joint meetings of their party workers at various places in the state.

However, the issue of Mumbai North East seat is difficult to solve, admitted leaders of both the parties. According to sources, there is considerable unease among the workers of both the alliance partners in Mumbai North East.

The Sena has a grudge against Mr Somaiya for having raised issues of alleged corruption in Sena ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The BJP MP had directly targeted the Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in his allegations.

Since then, Sena workers have always expressed anger against Mr Somaiya in the constituency. Keeping this in mind, some sections of Sena had demanded that BJP should change its candidate in the Mumbai North East. But, the BJP has reportedly finalised Mr Somaiya’s name again as its candidate from the seat.

However, the BJP fears that the uncertainty of Sena workers could benefit the NCP candidate Sanjay Dina Patil. In addition to this, the MNS, which has a good base in Mumbai North East, is also likely to offer its support to the NCP in the Lok Sabha polls.