MUMBAI: Alarm bells have started ringing in the Shiv Sena in the wake of the BJP's spectacular surge in the Mumbai civic polls even though the party leadership is doing its best to project itself as Tiger Triumphant.Though the BMC's new composition does not look like it poses any existential dilemmas to the Sena, there is disquiet and nervousness in the party over the preference of more and more young and educated Marathi voters for the BJP across the city, strident attacks by the Sena leadership on PM Narendra Modi and CM Devendra Fadnavis whom the ordinary Sainik sees as being popular among the youth, and the interface that an 82-corporator-strong BJP will now be between citizens and the BMC, earlier almost a `monopoly' of the `Sena shakha' and `nagarsevak.' They feel the Sena lost out on an opportunity to “shut out“ the BJP in the poll by rejecting Raj Thackeray 's offer for an alliance, is stuck in a time warp and is in danger of appearing increasingly irrelevant and ceding greater ground to Modi's party in the next five years. Defeats at the hands of BJP candidates in some Marathi areas such as Mulund (E), Girgaum, Goregaon, and parts of Mahim, Andheri (E), and Jogeshwari (E) have further accentuated these concerns.A Sainik from Mulund (E), where the party lost all three seats, said first-time and other young and educated Marathi voters are taken with Modi.“They don't have any memory of Balasaheb Thackeray as they're too young, aren't aware BJP was a partner in the ruling civic alliance, and they don't know the 25-year history of the Sena-BJP tie-up in order to feel a sense of `betrayal' by BJP .They are aspirational, are either studying or working in the private sector and have bought into BJP's development plank, so they see any personal targeting of Modi and Fadnavis as unwarranted,“ he said.Young Marathis in multicultural localities wanted to be in sync with other communities and were “an easy prey“ to BJP's current appeal across regional lines, he said, while those in the old mill areas of Lalbaug-Parel and parts of Dadar responded more easily to the Sena credo of `thokshahi' because of a tradition of militant movements in the area and gentrification that had altered their socio-cultural milieu.Though proud of Maratha history, this young generation was unlikely to be drawn in by parallels that Sena leaders kept drawing between Modi's men and 'Afzal Khan,' 'Shaistey Khan' and other historical figures, another Sainik from the eastern suburbs said.A Sena worker from Vile Parle (W) said the party would have defeated BJP if it had tied up with MNS. “Even a hundred more votes per ward would've destroyed BJP's chances of crossing 60,“ he said.The biggest worry is that the BJP's increased presence in the civic body would help it widen its grassroots network and end the status of the neighbourhood fortress-lookalike `shakha' as the first port of call for citizens who have work to do with the corporation. “Fifteen BJP MLAs elected from the city in 2014 have already started broadening the party's base, and some of them ­ one, for instance, in south Mumbai and another in north Mumbai ­ are especially good with their connect with voters. Their corporators and their aides will step in now and try to acquire our space,“ a Sainik from the western suburbs said.Another Sena backer was of the view that while the CM focused on the city's crumbling infrastructure and new infra projects planned by the state government during the poll campaign, Sena leaders berated Fadnavis for “drinking our water“ and kept up the “Sena angaar (flame) and baki bhangaar (waste)“ narrative of the 1960s and 1970s which finds no resonance now. “This `our' and `theirs' lingo may work in some areas but will not help expand vote base. We seem to be keen on marking our territory but don't realize our ex-ally is making inroads into it and could make it shrink at a pace that's uncomfortable for us,“ he said.