After attempting to drive a hard bargain with ally BJP, the Shiv Sena has agreed to be the younger sibling in the alliance and be content with 124 seats. However, the second round of intra-party worries still persist for the saffron party. Along with fighting a resurgent BJP in the city, the Sena is also grappling with the prospect of rebellion in its ranks. The tell-tale signs were evident on Tuesday when former mayor Shraddha Jadhav openly expressed displeasure over not getting a party ticket from Wadala. The party, with much hesitation, released the names of only 70 candidates out of 124 seats on Tuesday. The names were an indication of the churn within the party. Most of the incumbents, regardless of their performance, were repeated in Mumbai. There were also leaders like Vinod Ghosalkar from Mumbai, who was given the ticket from Shrivardhan in the Raigad district. The party, given it's current predicament, hopes to retain its Marathi vote in the city and it aims to achieve this by fielding Aaditya Thackeray from a Marathi pocket borough. It is of the opinion that the young leader will act like a centrifugal force. THEIR DILEMMA The party, with much hesitation, released the names of only 70 candidates out of 124 seats Most of the incumbents, regardless of their performance, were repeated in Mumbai This continuity and elective merit, party leaders think, will serve it well ahead of the 2022 civic polls where ally BJP proved to be a tough nut to crack when Sena last fought the elections solo. "Our strategy is simple: to increase the winning margin of our incumbents and ride on issues like nationalism, Hindutva and the Modi wave," said a functionary on condition of anonymity. Another giveaway of the extreme cautiousness is the way it is announcing its candidates. On Monday, the party only announced the number of seats it is contesting, and on Tuesday it announced around 70 names, retaining most of the old timers. On the sidelines, too, president Uddhav Thackeray sent a message that he is firmly on the saddle by personally distributing A and B forms to confirmed candidates. Thackeray was so consumed with quelling rebellion that he opted to be absent during Aaditya's announcement of his foray into electoral politics.

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