MUMBAI: Following its defeat in the Maharashtra local body elections, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has approached Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with a request to form an alliance ahead of the upcoming elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), scheduled on January 15, 2026.In the local body elections, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party. After winning the 41 Nagar Panchayat president posts in the local body elections, the Congress has gained confidence in their strategy and has planned to do the same for the upcoming elections to Asia’s largest civic body, the BMC. The Congress has already announced that it will contest the BMC election on its own, though plans are in the making to tie up with Prakash Ambedkar-led Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi to garner Dalit votes (10%) and other minority votes. Shiv Sena (UBT) is concerned about the outcome of the BMC elections, as the BMC has been controlled by the party for the last 25 years. The party’s defeat in the local body polls has driven down hopes of retaining the corporation, pushing it to consider an alliance with the Congress and avoid division of votes.Sanjay Raut has reportedly called Rahul Gandhi with a message that the Congress should be part of an alliance to fight against the BJP.However, sources within the Congress said that they are determined to contest alone in Mumbai. “We have seen in the last two elections, the Congress votes easily get transferred to Shiv Sena (UBT), but the Sena votes do not come to us. It either goes to BJP or Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Therefore, it is better to contest the elections separately and retain each one’s vote bank.””We are sure Rahul Gandhi will not ask us to change the decision to contest independently for the BMC elections,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity.Interestingly, in Pune, DCM Ajit Pawar likely to ally with his uncle Sharad Pawar, along with Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) in order to fight against the BJP. A committee has been set up at the local level where seat sharing discussion has already started. NCP has decided to contest the 80 seats out of total 165 seats in Pune Municipal Corporation while remaining 80 seats are offered to all three partners of the MVA. However, no decision has been taken regarding the matter.
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