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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 Sule and Fadnavis Saga

Updated: Nov 15, 2024

the Sule and Fadnavis Saga

Mumbai: In the season of political fireworks and mudslinging, most other wars pale in the face of the war of words between Devendra Fadnavis and Supriya Sule. Barely two days ago, Fadnavis called Sharad Pawar the “owner of a fake narrative factory”, a statement that was condemned by the NCP (SP)’s top brass while Ajit Pawar maintained a “no personal remarks of Sharad Pawar” policy.


Only a week earlier, the NCP (SP)’s working president Sule had demanded Fadnavis’s resignation accusing him of treason for leaking confidential government files to Ajit Pawar. The file in question was the one which had orders for an investigation into Ajit for his alleged role in a multi-crore irrigation scam. The controversy was raked up by Ajit himself when he accused former home minister of the NCP, R R Patil for signing on this file supposedly to get Ajit into trouble. “A case should be filed against Fadnavis and he should resign. This is treason against the state and the people of Maharashtra who had voted for him to be the CM,” Sule said during a public rally in Kolhapur.


This isn’t the first time that Sule has made Fadnavis the target of her political anger with the BJP. She has systematically targeted him specifically in his role as the home minister of Maharashtra. Last year, she accused him of ‘breaking’ the Pawar family by getting Ajit Pawar to split the NCP. In the gruesome Pune Porsche case where a young man and woman were mowed down and the accused were initially let off lightly, she demanded Fadnavis’ resignation as an inept home minister. After the heinous Badlapur case where a school sweeper was accused of raping two nursery-going toddlers, the feisty Member of Parliament trained her guns on Fadnavis.


The Pawar-Fadnavis rivalry isn’t a new one. Also, it goes beyond the battle for political one upmanship. A member of the NCP (SP) recalls that Fadnavis had tried to break the supremacy of the NCP patriarch by side-stepping him as he took over as chief minister of Maharashtra. He realised that the influence of the NCP and the Congress stemmed from cooperatives—milk, sugar, banks or poultry and Fadnavis tried making in-roads into those to spread the BJP’s wings into what was traditionally NCP-Congress territory. That apparently was an initial point of conflict. Pawar didn’t fail to publicly remind Fadnavis that he had been friends with the then new chief minister’s father, Gangadharrao Fadnavis.


It is no secret that senior leaders of all parties consult with Pawar senior on crucial matters of the state, according him the regard that a senior leader commands. Be it Uddhav Thackeray or even Eknath Shinde as the chief minister, they have publicly acknowledged Pawar’s “guidance” on matters as varied as farmer concerns, Covid management and cooperatives. “Even politicians who have crossed over to other parties still maintain a warm rapport with him. An example is Uday Samant. Even Raj Thackeray may criticise him during public speeches but personally, shares a good relationship. That’s the kind of politics he enjoys; not one of animosity,” says NCP (SP) politician.


Their rivalry is nothing more than political chess, with each waiting to ‘checkmate’ the other. With Pawar refraining from making political remarks on his opponents, the NCP (SP)’s charge against Fadnavis and the BJP is led by Sule.


“Pawar and Sule enjoy good relations with most politicians across party lines. Fadnavis is an exception. He tried to break their party stronghold of western Maharashtra’s cooperatives,” says the NCP (SP) leader.

This mutual dislike isn’t new. Way back in 2016, Sule had likened Fadnavis to “women who fight at community water taps” further stating that he was unable to handle the responsibility that came with the chief minister’s position.


The rivalry had further deepened over the years. Fadnavis tried to break the undivided NCP’s chances of forming the government in 2009 by planning a midnight coup that involved wooing Ajit Pawar and other MLAs. The attempt, although unsuccessful, wasn’t forgotten by the Pawars. The second blow came when Ajit split the party, allegedly at the behest of Fadnavis and the BJP, supposedly compelled by the charges the investigative agencies had levelled against him. “There is real bitterness between them,” says the NCP (SP) politician.


With this background, Sule doesn’t miss an opportunity to hit back at Fadnavis who has managed to hurt her family and her party. As Pawar’s daughter, she is set to carry on the rivalry and avenge the damage her father has suffered.

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