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By:

Dr. Abhilash Dawre

19 March 2025 at 5:18:41 pm

From suspension to defection

Eighteen days after the results, Ambernath politics takes a dramatic turn as Congress corporators flood into BJP Ambernath : Amid growing buzz around municipal elections in Maharashtra, the Congress party has suffered a major political blow in Ambernath. As many as 11 Congress corporators have quit the party and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within 24 hours of being suspended, dramatically altering the power balance in the Ambernath Municipal Council. The development has...

From suspension to defection

Eighteen days after the results, Ambernath politics takes a dramatic turn as Congress corporators flood into BJP Ambernath : Amid growing buzz around municipal elections in Maharashtra, the Congress party has suffered a major political blow in Ambernath. As many as 11 Congress corporators have quit the party and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within 24 hours of being suspended, dramatically altering the power balance in the Ambernath Municipal Council. The development has not only weakened Congress but has also dealt a significant setback to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.   The crisis began after Congress suspended 12 corporators for aligning with the BJP during the formation of power in the municipal council. However, since the corporators were suspended and not disqualified, their corporator status remained intact, legally freeing them to join another party. Taking advantage of this, 11 suspended corporators crossed over to the BJP, leaving Congress in a political bind described by party insiders as a case of “losing both oil and ghee.”   The situation within the Congress organisation in Ambernath has further deteriorated. Party sources say there is no one left to even occupy the Congress office, and discussions are underway about sending a lock from Mumbai to secure it. Ironically, the party office itself is reportedly under the control of former Taluka Congress President Pradeep Patil, who was earlier suspended for campaigning for Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) candidate Shrikant Shinde during the Lok Sabha elections. Patil was suspended at the time by then state Congress president Nana Patole.   Power Struggle In the Ambernath Municipal Council, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena has 27 corporators, BJP has 14, Congress 12, and the Nationalist Congress Party 4. Despite being the single largest party, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) fell short of a majority. BJP capitalised on this situation by aligning with Congress corporators and the NCP to reach the majority mark, a move that triggered widespread discussion across the state and country due to the unusual BJP–Congress alignment. Congress’s disciplinary action against its corporators ultimately worked in BJP’s favour and against the Shinde Sena. Following the defection of the 11 corporators, BJP’s strength in the municipal council has increased significantly, while the Shinde Sena has been pushed further away from power despite having the highest number of elected members.   This political churn is being viewed as a warning signal for Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leadership. Ambernath is represented by MLA Dr. Balaji Kinikar, while Shrikant Shinde, son of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is the local Member of Parliament. With party control firmly in their hands, the BJP’s successful induction of Congress corporators facilitated by state BJP president Ravindra Chavan is being seen as a strategic challenge to the Shinde camp.   Intensifying Rivalry BJP’s aggressive organisational expansion in Badlapur, Ambernath, and Kalyan-Dombivli has intensified tensions between BJP and the Shinde Sena. The rivalry between MP Shrikant Shinde and BJP state president Ravindra Chavan has now become increasingly open, peaking in December with both sides engaging in aggressive political poaching of former corporators and office-bearers.   List of Congress corporators who joined BJP 1. Pradeep Nana Patil 2. Darshana Umesh Patil 3. Archana Charan Patil 4. Harshada Pankaj Patil 5. Tejaswini Milind Patil 6. Vipul Pradeep Patil 7. Manish Mhatre 8. Dhanlakshmi Jayashankar 9. Sanjavani Rahul Devde 10. Dinesh Gaikwad 11. Kiran Badrinath Rathod

The Reluctant Deputy Who Returned as King

Devendra Fadnavis, once denied his due, is the state’s Chief Minister again and a strong contender for Delhi

In the eternally fluid politics of Maharashtra, the suffix ‘saheb’ carries great weight. It is not lightly bestowed, especially not on someone from Vidarbha - a region often marginalised in Maharashtra’s political landscape and the political spectrum in general.


The fact that present Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Nagpur, has come to be addressed simply as ‘Fadnavis Saheb’ is testament to his commendable transformation from just an ardent BJP loyalist and technocrat into a commanding force in Maharashtra politics, on par with a personage no less than Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.


As he turns 55 today, it is time to take stock of Fadnavis’ ascent. His rise has been anything but meteoric, but it has been relentless. Born into a political family in which his father Gangadharpant was a legislator and his aunt, Shobha Fadnavis, served as a minister, Devendra entered public life through the ideological nursery of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Fresh out of college, he contested elections to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and, at 25, became one of its youngest mayors.


The Maharashtra BJP at the time was dominated by stalwarts: Pramod Mahajan, Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur, Gopinath Munde in Marathwada and Eknath Khadse in north Maharashtra. Yet Fadnavis persevered. Known for his loyalty to the party and his aptitude for governance, he steadily built networks across districts, earning trust within the BJP’s state apparatus.


His moment came in 2013 when he was appointed state party president. The same year, Narendra Modi was declared the BJP’s candidate for Prime Minister. Fadnavis, buoyed by Modi’s messaging and personal magnetism, plunged into electioneering with evangelical fervour. Modi took note and when the BJP emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra in 2014, Fadnavis was rewarded with the Chief Minister’s chair at just 44 - making him the second-youngest in Maharashtra's history after Sharad Pawar.


As Chief Minister, he sought to blend rural reform with urban modernisation. He launched the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan to make villages drought-resilient and advocated for farm exports to tap global markets. He repeatedly argued that farmers should be made self-reliant rather than trapped in cycles of debt and relief. At the same time, he oversaw large-scale urban infrastructure projects like the Mumbai Metro expansions, the Vadhavan Port, Purandar Airport, the Samruddhi Mahamarg (an expressway connecting Nagpur to Mumbai) and the redevelopment of Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi.


Fadnavis also pitched Maharashtra to foreign investors, strengthened industrial zones and promised law-and-order stability to entrepreneurs. His administration laid the groundwork for a ‘fourth Mumbai’ in Palghar and sanctioned a steel plant in Maoist-hit Gadchiroli, where Naxalism has since receded. Under his watch, even previously restive districts like Chandrapur have seen an uptick in prosperity.


Yet politics rarely rewards continuity. In 2019, though the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance led by Fadnavis won a majority, the Sena switched sides, joining hands with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Fadnavis, denied a second term, accepted the role of Leader of the Opposition. From that seat, he remained the centre of political gravity in shaping legislative debate, cornering the MVA on scandals and keeping his party's base energised.


The pandemic paralysed politics in 2020–21 but in 2022, Maharashtra’s political landscape shifted again. Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against then CM Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership of the Sena, bringing down the MVA government. The BJP-Shinde faction reclaimed power, but Fadnavis was curiously asked to play second fiddle as Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister. It was, reportedly, at the insistence of both Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.


Though reluctant, Fadnavis complied and set to work with characteristic discipline. His reward came soon enough. In 2023, Ajit Pawar broke ranks with his uncle Sharad Pawar and brought a faction of the NCP into the BJP-Shinde fold. Fadnavis became the face of the newly expanded ruling coalition. In the 2024 assembly elections, the Mahayuti (comprising the BJP, the Shinde-led Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP) won a resounding victory, and Fadnavis returned to the Chief Minister’s office.


His return was poetic. In 2019, Fadnavis had ended his campaign quoting Atal Bihari Vajpayee: “I shall return.” At the time, his rivals had scoffed. They are not laughing now.


Fadnavis has reshaped Maharashtra’s developmental arc. He integrated big-city ambitions with rural anxieties, and brought a stability to statecraft rarely seen in India’s fractious states. His grip over party machinery, his ability to attract investment and his rapport with PM Modi have only strengthened over time.


Today, projects like the Nashik Kumbh Mela revamp, Shakti Peeth Highway, and continuous administrative meetings underscore the scale of his mandate. Maharashtra stands at the cusp of transformation and Fadnavis is its architect.


The big question is whether Mumbai is his final stop. Many in the BJP believe he is being groomed for something bigger. If he delivers over the next five years, the man once mocked for quoting Vajpayee may do more than just return. He may rise higher still. 

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