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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.

Deshmukh becomes Centre of election campaign

Updated: Oct 30, 2024

Accused on corruption and money laundering and fresh on the heels of a jail term, Anil Deshmukh could become a talking point for the two alliances this election.

Anil Deshmukh

Mumbai: Literature and art join the electioneering bandwagon this month to score a point or attack the opponent. If Dharmaveer 2 is expected to shore up support for the Eknath Shinde camp, Anil Deshmukh’s upcoming book, Diary of A Home Minister has the potential of a becoming a political potboiler as he heaps accusations of bullying and coercion against Devendra Fadnavis.


The issue erupted in July this year when the former home minister made serious charges against Fadnavis for allegedly coercing the former home minister to file cases against other leaders of the MVA. Fadnavis, predictably, denied those, and instead accused Deshmukh of speaking out against his own boss, Sharad Pawar and alliance partner Uddhav Thackeray.


The two sides have traded serious barbs against each other since Deshmukh was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2022. On one side are charges of deeply entrenched corruption while on the other, are charges of coercion and what can be described, in simple terms, as blackmail.


While the BJP launched a high-pitched campaign against Deshmukh when he had to step down as the home minister on the heels of a controversy, the NCP (SP) man had, earlier this year, accused Fadnavis of coercing him into filing false cases against MVA leaders, including Aditya Thackeray, in exchange for avoiding a jail term or withdrawal of charges against him.


With Deshmukh announcing his book that details these allegations, the man could become a key point for the two sides to clash on. For the MVA, he is an example of the devious ways and the alleged abuse of the investigation agencies against non-BJP politicians while for the Mahayuti, he is the poster boy of corruption during the MVA regime between 2019 and June 2022.


In 2021, Deshmukh had found himself at the centre of a massive controversy in which former Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh had accused Deshmukh of directing police officers to collect money from hotel and bar owners with a target of Rs 100 crore per month. Following these charges, Deshmukh had stepped down as Maharashtra’s home minister, He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case in November 2021 and then by the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, in a corruption case in April 2022. He was in prison for 14 months before he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court.


In July this year, Deshmukh had made scandalous charges against Fadnavis, stating that a man by the name of Samit Kadam, had approached him at Fadnavis’s behest with an offer to ‘help’ him if only he would file charges against certain leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT). The NCP (SP) leader had even claimed to have a pen drive which contained evidence about the allegations he made against Fadnavis. Countering him, Fadnavis had denied these allegations and said that he had several audio-video clips of Deshmukh’s remarks against Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.


As the elections near and accusations fly, Deshmukh could well find himself at the centre of a volatile campaign between the two sides.

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