Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has urged Marathi voters to remain vigilant to ensure Mumbai doesn’t slip out of their hands, amid escalating tension between ruling allies BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena over alleged poaching of each other’s workers ahead of local body polls.

“This Mumbai Municipal Corporation election will be the last one for the Marathi people. If this election slips from our hands, Mumbai will slip from the hands of the Marathi people,” Raj said on Sunday, seeking to play the Marathi pride card.

The MNS has aligned with Raj's cousin Uddhav Thackeray's faction of the Shiv Sena (UBT) for the upcoming urban body polls. The Congress has objected to the MNS’s entry in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) bloc.

Elections to the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), other municipal corporations and urban local bodies across Maharashtra are scheduled on December 2. These elections have led to an all-out war not only among rival parties but also among intra-alliance partners.

The ruling Mahayuti has been the most affected, with partners BJP and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena engaging in poaching each other’s workers and leaders for turf control.

Tensions ran high early this week as Shiv Sena ministers boycotted a cabinet meeting presided by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The ministers later met Fadnavis separately to lodge their complaint over the poaching of a bunch of Sena workers in the Kalyan region by the BJP. Shinde flew to Mumbai the same day (November 19) to complain to Union home minister Amit Shah, sources said.

In private, BJP leaders justified the poaching of Sena workers. “Five of our former corporators in Thane’s Ulhasnagar were inducted by the local Shiv Sena unit. We hit back and did the same in Kalyan,” a Maharashtra BJP leader said.

After emerging as the single-largest party following the Assembly elections last year, the Maharashtra BJP has been trying to expand its footprint in the state. Shinde has complained to Shah about state BJP chief Ravindra Chavan targeting his party leaders in their strongholds.

All is not well in the Opposition bloc, too. The Congress has opposed efforts by veteran Maratha leader Sharad Pawar to induct the MNS into the MVA for the local body polls. “The Congress will not tie up with those who take the law into their hands or indulge in politics of intimidation,” the party’s Mumbai president, Varsha Gaikwad, said recently, referring to the attack on non-Marathis by the MNS workers.

“The Shiv Sena and the MNS have already come together. This is the people’s will. There is no need for anyone’s permission for that. Sharad Pawar and the Left parties are also together on this,” Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Saturday.

The estranged Thackeray cousins — Uddhav and Raj — have come together to protect their dwindling political clout in the state. Mumbai forms the economic bedrock of the Thackerays and they are desperate to gain control of the cash-rich Mumbai corporation.

“Do not be careless…. Keep an eye on your surroundings.... Moves are underway to gain control of Mumbai, so you stay alert. Pay close attention to the genuine and fake voters around you,” Raj told his party leaders and cadres on Sunday.

The Thackeray cousins have been alleging large-scale enrolment of “outsiders” in the Mumbai voter list, suspecting an effort by the BJP to rig the elections. The BJP has sought to counter the Thackerays' Marathi pitch with the Hindu card. Responding to the Thackeray cousins’ call that the next Mumbai mayor should be a Marathi, BJP MLA Ameet Satam said: “Mumbai’s mayor will be a Hindu.”