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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This...

Shinde dilutes demand

Likely to be content with Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai Mumbai: In a decisive shift that redraws the power dynamics of Maharashtra’s urban politics, the standoff over the prestigious Mumbai Mayor’s post has ended with a strategic compromise. Following days of resort politics and intense backroom negotiations, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has reportedly diluted its demand for the top job in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), settling instead for the Deputy Mayor’s post. This development, confirmed by high-ranking party insiders, follows the realization that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) effectively ceded its claims on the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) to protect the alliance, facilitating a “Mumbai for BJP, Kalyan for Shinde” power-sharing formula. The compromise marks a complete role reversal between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Both the political parties were in alliance with each other for over 25 years before 2017 civic polls. Back then the BJP used to get the post of Deputy Mayor while the Shiv Sena always enjoyed the mayor’s position. In 2017 a surging BJP (82 seats) had paused its aggression to support the undivided Shiv Sena (84 seats), preferring to be out of power in the Corporation to keep the saffron alliance intact. Today, the numbers dictate a different reality. In the recently concluded elections BJP emerged as the single largest party in Mumbai with 89 seats, while the Shinde faction secured 29. Although the Shinde faction acted as the “kingmaker”—pushing the alliance past the majority mark of 114—the sheer numerical gap made their claim to the mayor’s post untenable in the long run. KDMC Factor The catalyst for this truce lies 40 kilometers north of Mumbai in Kalyan-Dombivali, a region considered the impregnable fortress of Eknath Shinde and his son, MP Shrikant Shinde. While the BJP performed exceptionally well in KDMC, winning 50 seats compared to the Shinde faction’s 53, the lotter for the reservation of mayor’s post in KDMC turned the tables decisively in favor of Shiv Sena there. In the lottery, the KDMC mayor’ post went to be reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidate. The BJP doesn’t have any such candidate among elected corporatros in KDMC. This cleared the way for Shiv Sena. Also, the Shiv Sena tied hands with the MNS in the corporation effectively weakening the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s alliance with them. Party insiders suggest that once it became clear the BJP would not pursue the KDMC Mayor’s chair—effectively acknowledging it as Shinde’s fiefdom—he agreed to scale down his demands in the capital. “We have practically no hope of installing a BJP Mayor in Kalyan-Dombivali without shattering the alliance locally,” a Mumbai BJP secretary admitted and added, “Letting the KDMC become Shinde’s home turf is the price for securing the Mumbai Mayor’s bungalow for a BJP corporator for the first time in history.” The formal elections for the Mayoral posts are scheduled for later this month. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—led by the Shiv Sena (UBT)—has vowed to field candidates, the arithmetic heavily favors the ruling alliance. For Eknath Shinde, accepting the Deputy Mayor’s post in Mumbai is a tactical retreat. It allows him to consolidate his power in the MMR belt (Thane and Kalyan) while remaining a partner in Mumbai’s governance. For the BJP, this is a crowning moment; after playing second fiddle in the BMC for decades, they are poised to finally install their own “First Citizen” of Mumbai.

Articulate Supriya overshadows loyal Jayant Patil

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Jayant Patil

Mumbai: If there’s one key lesson that Jayant Patil has learnt from his party boss Sharad Pawar, it is the art of maintaining warm relationships and having friends across the political spectrum. While he’s loyal to his party chief, Sharad Pawar, there’s been no dearth of political options for him in various parties. And there must’ve been at least a few occasions when he’s considered a move.


Despite his political clout and his experience, there have been consistent efforts to undermine his supremacy in the party. Be it his cold relations with Ajit Pawar and now the alleged ‘Supriya stamp’ on the party’s choice of candidates and decisions, Patil’s clout seems to ruffle his colleague’s feathers. During the Lok Sabha elections, Devendra Fadnavis had remarked that Patil had been kept away from an active campaign. The senior NCP leader’s disappointment probably prompted Pawar to recently announce that “bigger roles” were being planned for him. Pawar said that at a public meeting in Sangli, Patil’s stronghold which stands behind him, quite firmly.


Ever smiling and affable, he’s known to wield considerable influence over Islampur in Sangli district, a constituency nurtured by his visionary father Rajarambapu Patil who set up big cooperatives and educational institutes in the area.


His tenure in the Nationalist Congress Party, which he joined when Pawar split from the Congress in 1999, has been marked by internal strife and competition. His closeness to Pawar senior didn’t go down to well with Ajit. A politician from Sangli also recalls how Patil was initially hesitant to move from the Congress and was among the later ones to follow Pawar to the NCP. “That hesitation or reluctance was remembered by Pawar but his influence over Islampur politics is such that he’s an asset to any party,” says the politician from the NCP.


An educated and erudite politician, he is known to have an uncomfortable relationship with Ajit. With Ajit at the helm until now, his decisions within the party were frequently stalled or overturned by Ajit. Appointments recommended by him didn’t always go through. This unrest was palpable and the BJP, in which he has several friends, has been waiting for an opportunity to grab him to their side.


Patil, who has the distinction of having presented 10 state budgets without a break in a decade, has warm relations with the BJP. The party apparently has been wanting him for long. For the past few years, there have been consistent rumors and speculation that Patil may switch to the BJP. When investigating agencies ordered a probe into him, it was seen as an attempt to get him to defect. But he stayed put.


The upcoming polls are Patil’s first all-important assembly elections after the party split. But what can be best called the ‘Supriya stamp’ is all over the party—the choice of contestants such as Fahad Ahmad and Rohit RR Patil are her picks. Unperturbed, Patil is continuing with his public rallies and campaigns.

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