As the battle lines are being drawn for elections in India’s richest civic body – BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) – Shiv Sena seems to have won a prized trophy in the form of Hardik Patel. Sena has been trying hard to make inroads without much success into the Gujarati vote which has traditionally supported BJP. Patel’s support at this juncture comes as a huge shot in the arm for Sena as the 23-year-old is a household name in neighbouring Gujarat for spearheading the Patel agitation.

But why is Sena so interested in wooing Gujaratis? This is the first time Sena and BJP will be contesting alone after the 1992 elections. Till now, Sena had left Gujarati dominated areas for BJP in successive BMC elections. Gujaratis form roughly 17-18% of the total electorate with their influence in Kandivali, Borivali, Malad, Bhandup, and Ghatkopar areas to name a few. They are a majority in nearly 40 and can influence the outcome on another 10 seats out of a total of 227 seats in BMC. In 2007, Shiv Sena and BJP won 82 and 28 seats respectively but in 2012 Sena could win only 75 while BJP won 21 seats.

Mumbai-In a joint press conf with U.Thackeray Hardik Patel says he is a fan of Bal Thackeray; will be Shiv Sena's campaign face in Gujarat pic.twitter.com/Y0eBKyyiFp — ANI (@ANI_news) February 7, 2017

With BJP and Sena headed for a collision course in BMC elections, Sena leaders were worried of completely losing the Gujarati vote in the metropolis. What has added to Sena’s worries is the Marathi vote being reduced to nearly 31%. Sena realised it has to reach out beyond the ‘marathi manoos’ and that’s where Hardik Patel entered the scenario. It is a known fact that Patel considers Shiv Sena founder, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, as his idol and publically praised him way back in August 2015. He fits into Sena’s scheme of things as a youth leader who was incarcerated for taking on the might of BJP in Narendra Modi’s home state.

Shiv Sena may withdraw support to @Dev_Fadnavis government after BMC polls: Sanjay Raut https://t.co/zG9cLUsSQZ pic.twitter.com/xraxRZiqKV — Times of India (@timesofindia) February 6, 2017

Reports of Patel being Sena’s face in Gujarat assembly elections slated for December can best be termed speculation at the moment. What Sena is banking on is a minor split in the 15 lakh strong Gujarati electorate from BJP in BMC elections. Even though BJP will have the edge over this vote, Sena hopes to counter BJP’s Gujarati card by selecting visible faces in a highly localised election where even a single vote could be the differentiator between winning and losing.