India, Nov. 14 -- Addressing a gathering of North Indians on Tuesday, Kisan Kathore, the BJP legislator of Ambernath-Badlapur, announced that two of the candidates being fielded by the party in the coming civic polls would be North Indians. The community, which is the second largest in the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) after Marathi-speaking people, is being aggressively wooed by the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena even as the Thackeray cousins continue to assert the Marathi manoos agenda.

In the last two decades, the number of North Indians has increased significantly in MMR, particularly in areas near Mumbai such as Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar and Badlapur-Ambernath on account of the availability of cheap housing and employment. As the com...