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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.

Capturing Nandurbar

Nandurbar

Political ideologies and loyalties are no bar in Nandurbar as four members of the Gavit family are contesting from the four assembly constituencies of the district. At the centre of the Gavit clan in Vijaykumar Gavit, a former minister who has represented his constituency six times as an MLA, once as an Independent, a few terms as a member of the undivided NCP and then as a BJP member. His daughter Heena entered the Lok Sabha in 2014 winning the Parliamentary polls. Now, she is contesting the state assembly as an Independent.


The region’s demographics include almost 70 per cent tribals with low education and employment opportunities which has made them heavily dependent on government schemes and assistance. This is one of the reasons the region has given rise to political strongmen.


Gavit was a professor of medicine when he began his political career in 1995 where his campaign was ably supported by his brothers Sharad and Rajendra. He contested as an Independent but aligned with the Shiv Sena-BJP government of the time and was made a minister. He then moved to the NCP, was given a ministerial berth in the Congress-NCP government and then joined the BJP in 2014. He inducted his brothers into electoral politics and sought tickets from various parties for them. The family has seen shifts across parties over the years with the brothers contesting from the Samajwadi Party, the NCP, Shiv Sena and the BJP in various elections.


In 2014, Gavit ensured a victory for his daughter Heena who became among the youngest Members of Parliament from Maharashtra to enter the Lok Sabha that year. She lost to the Congress in 2024 and is now set to contest the assembly elections. To corner the four assembly seats from Nandurbar, the Gavit family has now spread its wings to different parties. While Vijaykumar will contest on a BJP ticket from Nandurbar, his brother Rajendra has got a ticket from Shahada as a Congress candidate while Sharad and Heena are independents contesting from Nawapur and Akkalkuva respectively. With this move, the family is hedging its bets. While contesting from four seats from different parties, it is believed that at least one member will reach the state assembly, which helps the Gavits retain their hold and influence over Nandurbar.

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