MUMBAI, Aug. 8 -- The Thackeray cousins may have caused a stir in the corridors of power with broad hints of a possible reunion ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, but grassroots activists from both Uddhav and Raj's parties - Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), respectively - seem unwilling to share their leaders' enthusiasm. While the 'bhai-bhai' saga has sustained since the time both joined forces to celebrate the state government withdrawing its plan to impose Hindi as a compulsory third language in primary schools, party workers have two doubts: firstly, will the alliance really happen; and secondly, even if it does, will they be able to garner a sizeable chunk of wards in a 227-strong city hall and keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay? BMC is the country's richest civic body, its annual budget for 2025 pegged at Rs.74,427 crore. While the BJP has its eyes on BMC, it has for over four decades been a lifeline for Matoshree's Shiv Sena. The cousins need to retain it, if only to celebrate Sena founder Bal Thackeray's legacy. Many Shiv Sainiks and MNS workers HT spoke to, downplayed MNS chief Raj Thackeray's recent visit to Matoshree to greet the Sena (UBT) president on his 65th birthday. A Shiv Sainik said, "Raj saheb has affection for Balasaheb Thackeray, Matoshree and the family. However, noble gestures need to translate into action and a cohesive poll strategy." Many workers like him wince at Raj's unpredictable style of politics, especially his flip-flops with the BJP during the 2019 and 2024 general elections. They also worry about Raj's lack of consistency on the issue of north Indian migrants. Karyakartas of both parties, however, hold a unanimous view that Thackerays should play the Marathi card in the wake of the Jain community's growing urge to display its new-found clout in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Jain-Marathi equations have been strained following the former's aggressive pro-vegetarian crusade in many parts of the city. On Wednesday, a band of 1,000 Jain devotees took out a protest march to the kabutarkhana, in Dadar, to condemn the ban on pigeon feeding. A section of protestors tried to pull down the tarpaulin covering at the site to feed pigeons. "The incident has angered Marathis. The Jains may end up bringing Uddhav saheb and Raj saheb together," said Shiv Sainik from Dadar. Sceptics in the ranks however point out that such sporadic instances hardly provide an ideological framework and organisational muscle for the two beleaguered parties to merge into a strong force. A Sena (UBT) activist said workers are wary of breaking bread with MNS as "old wounds run deep". "Raj saab left the Shiv Sena in 2006 and built his party from scratch. We have also moved on, but the bitterness rankles. We can't forget that he left Sena at a time when the party had hit a rough patch - we had lost power in the state and Centre," he said. A Sena (UBT) activist said, with both parties targeting the city's Marathi voters - pegged at 25-27% -- distribution of seats will be a challenge. Evidently, both Uddhav and Raj will concentrate on Marathi pocket boroughs such as Girgaon, Girangaon (the Lalbaug-Parel-Sewri-Chinchpokli belt, the erstwhile textile mill hub); Dadar, Mahim, and the suburban Goregaon-Malad-Magathane-Dahisar-Gorai stretches on the western side. The Kurla-Vikhroli-Bhandup-Kanjur Marg-Chembur villages also have a thick concentration of Marathi voters, most of them migrants from Konkan and western Maharashtra. Transfer of votes will be another bone of contention, said an MNS worker. "The post-1995 generation of karyakartas of both parties belong to Mumbai's aspirational class, who wish to enter BMC at any cost," said a senior MNS functionary. Prakash Paranjpe, a former BMC official, said, "With many contestants, the civic election will fuel fierce competition at the grassroots level."...