A verbal battle between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his predecessor Devendra Fadnavis in the Budget session turned out to be templates for their respective party’s campaign for the Mumbai civic polls. Last week’s debate continued for several hours with the BJP legislators making charges of corruption and Shiv Sena members rebutting them. The debate resolved around the affairs of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), evidently because of the forthcoming elections that promise to be a direct fight between the former allies, who finished with almost the same numbers five years ago. The BJP aims to surpass the 2017 figure to deny the Sena power in the civic body, which the latter has been ruling for 25 years. Barring the past five years, the BJP was with the Sena as a small ruling partner before it fell a couple of seats short of the close rival in 2017.

There was a marked difference between the presentations by the BJP and the Sena. The former planned the attacks, distributing the issues to be raised aggressively between its members. Some BJP members from Mumbai, who have worked in the BMC before getting elevated to the Assembly, did not put their hammer down. Their former Sena colleagues in the BMC, who are now MLAs, were no less alert in responding, but lacked preparation and sharpness in counterattacking. The allies did not bother much to get into this, leaving Mumbai to the two major stakeholders. Thackeray’s response was criticised by the Opposition as an emotional speech rather than an answer to their serious charges. The criticism aside, Thackeray’s ‘barb-full’ speech was well received by the MVA, especially the Sena’s rank and file, which is expected to follow the template their chief has provided them with.