India, Jan. 7 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bigwigs are a worried lot having analysed reports compiled by its core team which shows that the Thackeray cousins' re-union has caught the imagination of the city's Marathis ahead of the Mumbai civic elections. They fear it might scupper their plan of winning over this section of the electorate which would springboard them into the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

"Our volunteers are out in the field gauging voters' mood across Mumbai. The reports tell us that the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance has made good headway in Marathi enclaves, such as Girgaon, the Lalbaug-Parel-Sewri-Worli belt and suburban pocket boroughs such as Magathane, Charkop and Chembur," said a BJP strategist. ...