Mumbai:

A blockbuster political battle brews in Mumbai – Bollywood’s beating heart – with Aaditya Thackeray, the popular son of Shiv Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray, set to fight charismatic ex Congress MP Milind Deora, who jumped from that party to Eknath Shinde’s breakaway Sena faction in January.

Sources Friday morning said the Shinde Sena had confirmed Mr Deora’s candidature, a day after Mr Thackeray’s party said he would defend his seat.

The two will also face-off against Sandeep Deshpande of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray, who is Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin.

Thackeray junior holds the Worli seat – a Shiv Sena stronghold – that will vote, with the state’s 287 other Assembly constituencies, on November 20.

Except Worli isn’t just a Sena stronghold.

Sena vs Sena In Worli

The posh neighbourhood is in the Mumbai (South) Lok Sabha constituency that is widely seen as the backyard of the Deora family; Murli Deora won this seat four times, including a hat-trick of wins from 1984 to 1991, and his son, Milind Deora, claimed two consecutive wins – in 2004 and 2009.

Yes, since then the Sena has held Mumbai (South).

Arvind Sawant claimed a hat-trick of wins in the April-June federal election. The third was with the Thackeray Sena – as that party, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP dominated the Lok Sabha poll in the state – suggesting Aaditya Thackeray has the edge, but nothing is ever certain in politics.

Back in March the Shinde Sena gave its new recruit, Milind Deora, the responsibility of leading its Lok Sabha election charge in the Mumbai (South) constituency.

There was speculation then Mr Deora would be nominated to contest the seat – which seemed the obvious thing to do – but that fizzled out after the party appointed him to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Deora would, therefore, only oversee the Shinde Sena’s Lok Sabha campaign. And he did a credible job; Arvind Sawant’s winning margin dropped from 1.28 lakh votes in 2019 to just about one lakh.

But the margin of Aaditya Thackeray’s win in the 2019 state election – he had a 65 per cent vote share advantage – underlines the magnitude of the task for the Shinde Sena and Milind Deora.

What will provide a boost is that in the Lok Sabha election Worli voters gave Mr Sawant a very narrow win – he finished less than 7,000 votes ahead of the Shinde Sena’s Yamini Jadhav.

A Third Challenger?

Raj Thackeray could be the dark horse in this election. His MNS opted not to field a candidate from Worli in 2019 to respect Aaditya Thackeray’s electoral debut.

READ | For Aaditya Thackeray, Worli Challenge Likely From Uncle’s Party

But all bets are off now, especially since the reduced margin in the Lok Sabha polls signals an opportunity to gain ground. “In 2017 (in municipal polls), we bagged around 30,000 to 33,000 votes from Worli. We have voters dedicated to MNS here…” Mr Deshpande told news agency PTI.

Aaditya Thackeray, though, is unfazed.

“The People Know…”

The junior Thackeray led a massive rally Thursday as he filed his papers, and told NDTV, “… the people have realised the BJP is a party of hollow promises (and) will stand against Eknath Shinde…”

READ | “People Know BJP, Shinde Looted State”: Aaditya Thackeray To NDTV

Asked about the battle for Worli, he said, “You can see the response of the people. That is their love… The common man and woman on the streets are giving me their blessings.”

What Is Worli Like?

Home to some of India’s wealthiest men and women, the Worli skyline is marked by high-rises and thriving business hubs. But it also contains dilapidated chawls awaiting redevelopment.

Many slum rehabilitation projects have been stalled, and some redeveloped buildings have not provided promised monthly rentals to residents.

The Maharashtra election – one of the two final state polls this year, the other being in Jharkhand – will take place in a single phase on November 20, with results for both states due three days later.

READ | Congress, Uddhav Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Party To Fight 85 Seats Each

The 2019 election was won by the BJP-Sena alliance but that fell apart, spectacularly, after the two failed to agree a power-share deal. Uddhav Thackeray then led the Sena into an alliance with the Congress and the NCP (unlikely partners both) and that angered some of his party leaders.

Two years later Eknath Shinde led a rebellion and overthrew the ruling alliance. He was made the Chief Minister and, in July last year, Ajit Pawar staged a similar revolt within the NCP.

The BJP is allied with the rebel Sena and NCP factions.

With input from agencies

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