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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.

The angry Sainiks

angry Sainiks

When Eknath Shinde split the Shiv Sena in 2022, Ramdas Kadam was one of the most vocal leaders who went with him and even accused Uddhav Thackeray of not valuing the old-timers in the party. In a letter to Thackeray, he had written that while Bal Thackeray had appreciated his work and appointed him as a leader of the party, Uddhav did not follow the same norm and senior party leaders were never taken into confidence. He had even alleged that he and his son Yogesh, an MLA from Dapoli, had been “insulted several times” in the party. Ramdas Kadam is a typical Shiv Sainik, rough and fiery, always gunning for a fight.


He rose within the party in the eighties and nineties when the Shiv Sena was making its mark as a party for the ‘Marathi manoos’, fighting for the rights of the locals. Kadam began his career from Kandivali, a Mumbai suburb, and rose within the party ranks to become a shakha pramukh. In 1990, he was selected to contest the assembly elections from Khed, in Ratnagiri district from where he won. During the Shiv Sena-BJP government’s tenure from 1995 to 1999, Kadam was made minister of state for home and food and civil supplies, underlining his importance within the party. He won the elections for three subsequent terms until 2004. When Narayan Rane, a senior leader from Konkan, quit the Shiv Sena in 2005, Kadam was appointed leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly during which he played a key role in keeping a check on the government. In 2009, he was defeated by Bhaskar Jadhav but was elected to the legislative council, ensuring his continuity in the legislature. In 2014, when the BJP-Shiv Sena formed the government, Kadam was appointed as the minister for environment and one of the biggest policy decisions he made was to implement a ban on plastic. The ban was subsequently watered down. In 2019, he bowed out of the electoral race, instead, ensuring a nomination from his son Yogesh who successfully contested from Dapoli.


His other son Siddhesh was appointed as the chairman of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board in March this year, sparking allegations of favouritism to pacify Kadam who is apparently miffed with his party. While the position mandates a senior professional with more than two decades of experience, Siddhesh, although a post graduate in Science, was not seen to be eligible for the high position. Yogesh is contesting the state assembly poll from Dapoli for a second term.

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