MUMBAI, Dec. 23 -- A day after the Opposition parties' rout in the municipal council elections, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has reached out to the Congress for an alliance in Mumbai even as it continues finalising its seat-sharing plan with Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The Congress, unwilling to have dealings with the MNS, on Saturday declared its intention to stay separate from its Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners and has turned to Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar instead. Uddhav Thackeray's priority in the crucial BMC elections-which will be held on January 15 along with those to 28 other municipal corporations-was an alliance with his cousin Raj. When the Congress refused to accept this, Uddhav chose Raj over his MVA ally. However, following the ruling Mahayuti's clean sweep of the municipal council elections, where it won more than 207 out of 288 civic bodies, the Sena (UBT) reached out to the Congress for an alliance in Mumbai. According to information, Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut contacted Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi to ask him to reconsider the Congress' decision to go solo in Mumbai. He reportedly pointed out that in the absence of an alliance between the Thackeray cousins and the Congress, the anti-BJP votes would get divided, which would make the BJP's victory easy. Gandhi's response to this is not known, and there was no official reaction from both parties either. Sena (UBT) leaders believe that an alliance with the Congress is important to capture the Dalit and Muslims votes. The Marathi-Dalit-Muslim voter combination had worked for the MVA in the Lok Sabha polls, where the alliance won four seats and lost the fifth by a narrow margin. The alliance with the Congress had helped the Sena (UBT) win three out of six seats in Mumbai though the tie-up did not work in the assembly polls. "There are 60 to 70 seats in Mumbai where Marathi-speaking voters can decide the outcome," said a senior Sena (UBT) leader. "Traditionally, the Shiv Sena has been winning a majority of these seats, and we are confident of doing well in them because of Uddhav and Raj coming together. However, there are at least 30 seats where the Dalit and Muslim vote could be decisive. If the MVA allies contest together, there are chances that we will do well here too." Meanwhile, the seat-sharing talks between the Sena (UBT) and MNS are reportedly in the final stages. "Over the past few days, several rounds of discussion have taken place," Raut said on Monday. "The alliance will be announced soon." In a related development, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) communicated to Raj and Uddhav that the party would join their alliance. Congress leaders held an initial discussion with Ambedkar on Monday. "We are hopeful that an alliance will work out," said a senior Mumbai Congress leader. "Ambedkar has sought a significant number of seats but both sides have not arrived at any specific number yet." Significantly, several Mumbai Congress leaders, including city unit chief Varsha Gaikwad, are opposing any alliance with Raj Thackeray's MNS in it. They are also unhappy about the way Sena (UBT) leaders dismissed their party as having lost its base when the civic polls were announced. However, in the first phase, it was the Congress that did better than both its MVA allies by winning 28 councils. "Our 41 candidates were elected as presidents of civic bodies and 1,006 as councillors," said state Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal on Monday. "People voted for the Congress even as the ruling parties spent money and misused power."...