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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.

Test In Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai

BJP’s Navi Mumbai district president Sandeep Naik joined the NCP (SP) in presence of state party Chief Jayant Patil on Tuesday. He will be contesting the Belapur assembly constituency as an NCP (SP) candidate now. His father Ganesh Naik, who is the BJP candidate from Airoli assembly constituency, had already made it clear that Sandeep is free to take his own decisions.


While leaving the party Sandeep blamed the BJP leadership of not keeping promises made to him while he joined the party in 2019. However, according to some of the close associates of the Naik family, the real reason behind the latest move is the Naik family’s desire to keep its hold on the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) intact.


Ganesh Naik had been an undisputed leader of Navi Mumbai for around 40 years now. He had been able to maintain control over the municipal corporation since 1995. His elder son Sanjeev was the first Mayor of the city. Between 2004 and 2014 Naik family held all the key posts of people’s representatives in the city like the two MLAs, an MP and the Mayor. In 2014 Ganesh Naik lost to Manda Mhatre, former NCP MLC who had by then switched to the BJP. Sandeep Naik, who had contested from Airoli had won back then and was the only representative of the Naik family who was holding any post as people’s representative between 2014 and 2019.


Ganesh Naik too eventually joined the BJP along with his supporters in the NMMC and the corporation too came under the BJP. According to Sandeep Naik, the BJP leadership had promised to give two assembly seats and a parliamentary seat in the family but didn’t keep the word.


In 2019, the BJP chose Manda Mhatre for the Belapur assembly constituency and she won with a thumping lead of 43,500 votes against a weak Congress candidate. BJP insiders say that the leading margin won her the party ticket for the constituency this time also.


For the Naik family is important to hold both the assembly seats in the city to be able to keep control over the city municipal corporation, where the elections are likely to happen sometime early next year. That is the reason whey Sandeep Naik had started preparing to contest assembly from Belapur for past some time. Since he didn’t get the BJP ticket from the constituency, he shall now do so from the NCP (SP). If he wins, the family’s hold on the corporation will remain intact.

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