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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.

Fingerprint Fiasco

Updated: Jan 29, 2025

The stabbing of Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan in his Bandra home has turned into an indictment of the ineptitude of Mumbai’s police force and the faltering leadership of the Home Department, helmed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. While Khan survived the gruesome knife attack, the botched investigation that followed has left the state’s premier law enforcement agency grappling with public scepticism and exposed a governance vacuum at the heart of Maharashtra’s law and order machinery.


The immediate facts are damning. Khan suffered six stab wounds, one perilously close to his spinal cord, and underwent emergency surgery. His alleged assailant, a Bangladeshi national named Shariful Islam Fakir, was apprehended days later. Yet, nearly two weeks after the incident, the case remains mired in confusion. Reports now suggest that fingerprints collected from Khan’s residence do not match those of the arrested suspect. The Mumbai police, unable to confirm or deny these findings, have deflected responsibility to the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which runs the fingerprint bureau.


This muddled response raises uncomfortable questions about the competence and coordination within the state’s investigative apparatus. The arrest of Shariful, it appears, was based largely on circumstantial evidence and CCTV footage so grainy that the police relied on facial recognition systems to shortlist suspects.


Collateral damage in the case extended to a 31-year-old man wrongly detained by the Railway Police Force (RPF) on suspicion of involvement in the attack. The RPF, acting on a misidentified alert from the Mumbai police, apprehended Kanojia and even issued a press release implicating him. The resulting media circus not only led to his dismissal from his job but also scuttled his impending marriage.


The incident also highlights the chronic underfunding and technological inadequacies of Mumbai’s law enforcement agencies. Despite being the financial capital of India, the city’s police force remains ill-equipped to handle complex investigations. Fingerprint analysis, a routine procedure in most developed countries, has turned into a prolonged exercise of bureaucratic buck-passing. With over 200 fingerprints collected from the crime scene, the CID’s inability to deliver a timely report is a stark reminder of the resource constraints hobbling Maharashtra’s criminal justice system.


However, the blame does not rest solely on the operational shortcomings of the police. At its core, this fiasco reflects the political malaise afflicting the Home Department under CM Fadnavis. As both Chief Minister and Home Minister, Fadnavis bears ultimate responsibility for law and order in the state.


The larger implications of this failure extend beyond Mumbai’s police force to the very fabric of public trust in law enforcement. Bollywood celebrities may be accustomed to living under a media spotlight, but Khan’s ordeal has struck a chord with ordinary citizens who fear they may not fare any better should they fall victim to violent crime. In a state already grappling with political instability and governance challenges, such high-profile lapses only deepen the perception of institutional decay.

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