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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.

Rebels may distruptive pitch for Mahayuti, MVA

Mumbai: Major political parties are facing rebellion in their ranks as party workers denied tickets have defied their leaderships and filed nominations for the assembly polls, posing a headache for the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).


November 4 is the last date for withdrawal of candidatures and after that a clear picture will emerge on the number of rebels still left in the fray.


If rebels decide to dig in their heels, they will pose a significant challenge for official candidates and potentially upset the poll arithmetic of main contenders for power, Mahayuti and MVA, who appear to be locked in a close fight.


The Mahayuti consists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), while the opposition MVA comprises the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).


The BJP, which has fielded the highest number of candidates among the major parties, is struggling to manage possible damage from rebels in Mumbai as well as in other parts of the state.


Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party’s official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai’s Borivali assembly constituency.


Shetty represented this assembly constituency in 2004 and 2009 and won the Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North in both 2014 and 2019. The BJP chose to field Vinod Tawde, now its general secretary, in 2014 and Sunil Rane in 2019 from Borivali and neither of them were local candidates.


While both managed to win the seat, local party members, including Shetty, grew uneasy with the decision to “impose” candidates without consulting them, noted a BJP functionary.


Shetty faced a setback when he was denied a Lok Sabha ticket in 2024, making way for Piyush Goyal, the Union Commerce Minister. Although many anticipated that Shetty would be fielded from Borivali, the BJP opted for Upadhyay instead.


Despite efforts from Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and MLA Yogesh Sagar to persuade him to reconsider his decision to contest polls, Shetty stood his ground and filed his nomination.

Another local BJP leader, Atul Shah, has submitted his nominations from Mumbadevi in Mumbai city, where the party’s national spokesperson Shaina NC, is the official candidate of ally Shiv Sena.


The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, had announced the candidature of Kishanchand Tanwani from the Aurangabad Central constituency in central Maharashtra.


However, Tanwani withdrew his candidature and extended support to Pradeep Jaiswal, the candidate of the Shiv Sena headed by Thackeray’s rival, Chief Minister Shinde.


In Chandrapur district, the BJP has fielded Devrao Bhongale from the Rajura constituency. Upset with the decision, two former MLAs of the BJP -- Sanjay Dhote and Sudarshan Nimkar -- have filed their nominations as independent candidates.


According to political observer Abhay Deshpande, the NCP’s entry in the ruling coalition has posed challenges for the BJP and the Shiv Sena.


Then there are cases where allied parties have put up candidates against each other. For example, in the Solapur South constituency, the Congress nominated Dilip Mane but did not give him official nominee status, while its partner Shiv Sena (UBT) has given ticket to Amar Patil.


Speaking to reporters after filing his nomination as an independent candidate, Mane said, “I was told that the AB form from the Congress will be given to me. It never came so I decided to file my nomination as an independent candidate.”

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