Members of the BJP and the Shinde Sena took out their first Ashirwad Yatra in the city on Sunday, with political observers seeing it as an outreach attempt of the alliance ahead of the civic polls. The parties, however, said the rally has nothing to do with the pending elections.

Sources told mid-day that with city beautification and road concretisation projects taking off, the ruling alliance has shifted their focus completely on the BMC election.