New Delhi, Sept. 24: An ailing Bal Thackeray, “spoiler” Raj Thackeray and the late Pramod Mahajan’s absence have compounded the BJP’s woes and reduced its prospects of grabbing power from the Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra.

The BJP and ally Shiv Sena claim they have contained the rebellion over the nomination of Mahajan’s daughter, Poonam Rao, from Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (West). But there are other worries. The big concern is the rivalry between top BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde, who gave away tickets to relatives and friends, including niece Poonam.

But Munde, sources said, lacks the finesse of brother-in-law Mahajan, who was known to silence dissenters by dispensing favours.

Another bugbear is Raj Thackeray’s MNS. “Part of our strategy was based on the calculation that our voters might not waste their votes on the MNS. But our feedback is that people are unconvinced about our potential to emerge as a stable alternative and also because they think if the Congress and the NCP fall short, the MNS might bail them out,” a state leader said.

The MNS lost in all the 11 Lok Sabha seats it contested this year but cut into the Sena’s votes. The Congress, rumoured to have pumped up the MNS as a “spoiler”, is hoping for a repeat performance.

Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s poor health, forcing him to limit campaigning, is another problem. BJP sources said his heir-apparent Uddhav hadn’t “enthused” the cadres. “Uddhav is soft-spoken and low-key. The cadres are used to rabble-rousing (Thackeray’s style),” a source said.

But the biggest factor, both BJP and Sena leaders say, is the allies’ failure to be an effective Opposition. “Price rise or farmer suicides, we haven’t campaigned on a single issue effectively,” a BJP MP said.