By QUAID NAJMI

Mumbai, June 2 (IANS): Clobbered and bloodied in the Lok Sabha elections, the Maharashtra Opposition is now preparing to confront another major electoral challenge -- the Assembly polls -- and the prospects of their very survival in October.

For the two main parties -- the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) -- which bagged one and four seats, respectively, of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the next target is to wrest the Assembly from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine.

Both sides have started preparations in right earnest, virtually since the day after Parliament poll verdict was announced, for this exercise, with 288 Assembly seats at stake.

After the customary 'autopsy' of the Lok Sabha poll outcome, leaders of the Congress-NCP are devising ways and means to ensure they put their (limping) best foot forward for the state poll festival due to begin by mid-September.

Leaders, like Congress chief Ashok Chavan and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, are giving pep talks to boost the workers' deflated morale, while Leader of Opposition (Council) Dhananjay Munde even wrote a poem: "Bas Tu Ladna Mat Chhodna" (don't give up the fight).

For starters, the Congress-NCP must shield their few remaining 'sheeps' from the wolfing eyes of the ruling combine.

Prominent among those who have left the Opposition flock are Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of former Congress Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, and now the father may follow in the son's footsteps to join the BJP.

Ditto with Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, son of NCP ex-Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who joined the BJP and now his father may follow suit.

Needless to mention, the lure of power has made many greedier in the shrinking Opposition camp, and a spate of defections over the coming weeks are not ruled out by the Congress-NCP.

The second is to strengthen various alliances since the 56-party 'Mahagathbandhan' failed before the "56-inch chest" of the BJP, as pointed out by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during the Lok Sabha campaign.

The Congress-NCP have extended invites to the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) combine of Prakash Ambedkar's Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) and Owaisi brothers' All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

In their post-mortem, the Congress-NCP realised that the VBA played a crucial role in their rout in more than 15 seats, a charge dismissed with a wink by Ambedkar.

Others like Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray -- considered a 'pariah' before the Lok Sabha -- is being wooed fervently to join the Opposition ranks officially. Twice shy now, aggressive campaigner Raj Thackeray is keeping his options close to the chest, for now.

Last week, Pawar called on Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. There was wild speculation that the two parties were set to merge, but the NCP dismissed these as 'rumours'.

Even the ruling BJP-Sena is not taking any chances for the Assembly elections and is gearing up to batter the Opposition further.

With Sena President Uddhav Thackeray reportedly unhappy over a single minister and a repeat portfolio (Heavy Industries) in the second-term cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP is planning to make amends at the state level.

Thackeray-Fadnavis are in talks to expand the Maharashtra cabinet and include a few more ministers from the Sena as they unitedly go to the poll battle after four months.

Fadnavis will have to wrack his brains even more as several high-profile defections from the Opposition ranks are expected in the coming weeks, and each would seek their pound-of-flesh.

For instance, heavyweights like Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil would have to be accommodated as per their stature, no mean task given the clamour for ministerial berths from within the BJP, too.

Nevertheless, Fadnavis has confidently announced that the BJP-Sena alliance would bag as many as 220 of the 288 Assembly seats, dismaying the Opposition even more.