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Shiv Sena appoints Gujarati shakha pramukhs to woo the community, which is a traditional BJP votebank
- by Webdesk
- 14 Oct 2016
The Gujaratis have traditionally been voters and strong supporters of the BJP. With the BMC Elections 2017 just around the corner, the Shiv Sena is trying to woo the Gujarati community for appointing Gujarati shakha pramukhs in the city.
This seems to be an attempt to weaken the voter base of BJP from the western suburbs in 2017 BMC Polls. These areas have a sizeable population of Gujaratis, traditionally considered BJP supporters. The Sena recently picked close to a dozen office bearers from the community with the aim of going solo in the polls if things came to a head, a stand that was reiterated by party president Uddhav Thackeray at his annual Dussehra rally on Tuesday.
The Sena has had Muslim and north Indian office bearers, a key post for grassroots connect, but the leaning towards Gujaratis and Marwaris is a recent development. Insiders said Sena is desperate to weaken BJP’s support base in the city.
Uday Rugani, 50, a Gujarati businessman from Kandivali (East) was recently appointed as shakha pramukh of Sena’s ward no 30. “I was associated with the Sena for a long time but was never a party member. People just assume that all Gujaratis support the BJP. We too are getting a lot of support from the community.”
Rugani said that Gujaratis have supported the BJP in the past since the Sena never fought from Gujaratidominated pockets. “Once we do that we will get a lot of support. I joined the Sena to do social work and we are doing just that.” Vikas Shah and Jayesh Mehta are two newly appointed ward coordinators.
Under its ‘social engineering’ initiative, a brainchild of Abhijit Adsul, former Sena legislator and zonal head for Kandivali-Malad-Charkop, Sena has chosen north Indians, Marwaris and Muslims to head its shakhas.
“Not just Gujaratis, we also have people from all communities. They all want to work for the Sena, so we gave them a chance. If not shakha pramukhs, we have made them ward coordinators. This will help the party in the BMC elections,” Adsul said.
Like Rugani, Adsul said, they have nominated Vikas Gupta, Sadbir Shaikh and Walsingh Rajpurohit as branch heads in his zone. “We even have south Indians working for the party. The party is now receiving a lot of support from all communities due to the work we do.”
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