Mumbai, Dec. 24 -- As cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray prepare to announce the details of their first ever poll alliance for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started fine-tuning its own poll strategy. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this recalibration is Eknath Shinde. Multiple conversations with BJP leaders suggest that for some time there was reluctance to formally ally with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. The BJP has been resurgent across Maharashtra and this was its best chance so far to win the BMC on its own strength, they feel. But with the two Thackerays joining hands, the party will not run the risk of losing the 'Marathi manoos' vote. "More than 50 corporators who won on the Sena ticket in 2017 are now with Eknath Shinde. The BJP cannot afford to alienate them," says political commentator Hemant Desai. The BJP is aware that the Thackerays can still create a stir on emotive issues like mandating the use of a third language in primary education. Their strong opposition to the proposal in June this year had forced chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to roll back the decision. Posters with the stark message "Marathi manasa, jaga ho (Wake up Marathi people)" calling for unity of the Marathi manoos, have popped up across Mumbai. To counter this consolidation, the BJP has announced should it win, the party will make a Marathi person the next mayor of Mumbai, promised Ashish Shelar, state minister and the BJP in charge of civic polls in the city. A shade under one-third voters in Mumbai are Marathi speaking, followed by Hindi-speaking voters from north India and the Gujarati-Marwari voters. Two other voting blocs that are consequential are the Dalits and the Muslims (both of which also include Marathi-speakers). While the two Thackerays are hoping to woo the Marathi-Dalit-Muslim voter combine that worked so well for the MVA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is looking at winning over the north Indian, the Gujarati-Marwari voters and chipping a section of the Sena's Marathi vote bank. "Arithmetically, we are in a better position than Thackerays since the number of Hindi speaking and Gujarati-Marwari voters together is significant. However, we will also aggressively reach the Marathi voters in Mumbai since a section of them have voted for us in the past," says a senior BJP leader. It helps, he added that Eknath Shinde has the Shiv Sena name and the party symbol. "The BJP has realised that they have no option but to take Shinde along with them in Mumbai," says Desai. State BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said that while many party workers wanted the BJP to contest on its own, it has decided to contest with its "natural ally" the Shiv Sena. "Our workers on the ground wanted the party to contest on its own as our strength on the ground has increased significantly. However, the party decided that the Shiv Sena is our natural ally and hence, the two parties should contest together. Things were different in municipal councils governing smaller cities. In municipal corporation elections, we chose to go with our ally who has contested Lok Sabha and assembly elections with us. Wherever it is possible, we are forming an alliance with Shiv Sena." A senior Mumbai BJP leader also pointed out that it was the perception that mattered in BJP's electoral fight with the Thackeray brothers. "In contrast with the Thackeray brothers, it was important for us to show that the real Shiv Sena headed by a common party worker was with us," he said....