Abhijit Joshi

In Maharashtra’s politics where ideology is negotiable and arithmetic reigns supreme, the Pawars are playing the long game. It would be fair to say that politics in Maharashtra has long ceased to be a contest of ideas. It is akin to a revolving door, where yesterday’s adversaries share breakfast today and plot against one another by dinner. Alliances are stitched together with remarkable speed and unravelled just as quickly, leaving voters struggling to keep track of who stands where or why....

In Maharashtra’s upcoming municipal elections, potholes and power struggles will together decide the future of the state’s urban politics. The forthcoming municipal elections in Maharashtra covering 29 municipal corporations look deceptively local. Yes, they will determine who fixes roads, clears garbage and manages water supply. But they amount to something far larger than this - a state-wide referendum on political organisation, alliance arithmetic and urban credibility. From Mumbai to...

The eagerly-anticipated municipal elections in Maharashtra will decide which parties truly own urban India’s second-most powerful state. The forthcoming municipal elections in Maharashtra, covering 29 municipal corporations, are officially exercises in local self-government. In practice, they are something closer to a mid-term audit of the State’s political balance. From Mumbai to Pune, Nagpur to Nashik, Sambhajinagar to Kolhapur, these contests will test which parties command genuine urban...