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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.

Tourism Key to Growth

Updated: Nov 18, 2024

Tourism

The Maharashtra government recently came out with a much anticipated comprehensive tourism policy. During the inception of this policy the government virtually gave a huge flip to the concept of ‘workcation’ alongside the promotion of rural life, films, caravans, and medical tourism. The policy, which aims to attract RS 100,000 crore in investment and generate 1.8 million jobs over the next decade. Drawing inspiration from the COVID-19 pandemic, when many embraced remote work in non-urban settings, the policy promoted the concept of ‘workcation’ — a blend of work and vacation. The concept emerged during the COVID-19 lockdown when people, especially from the IT sector, set up camp at vacation destinations while continuing to work for their respective organisations.


This new policy identifies key areas to boost tourism’s contribution to Maharashtra’s goal of becoming a Rs 1 trillion economy by 2028. It focuses on developing robust infrastructure and partnering with various stakeholders, including tour operators and MICE (meetings, incentives, conference, exhibition) organisers, to double revenue generation in their respective sectors. The policy categorises tourism projects into A, B, and C tiers based on size, offering incentives such as GST waivers, electricity rate concessions, and stamp duty reductions. It also proposes cash prizes for innovative products and revival of cultural and artistic customs.


This time around the thrust of the policy is on agriculture, caravan, and adventure tourism. Some of the projects will receive incentives including up to Rs 10 lakh for commendable research work. Rural development is a key focus, with plans to promote local culture, art, cuisine, and festivals. Rural tourism and homestays will be part of the promotion. Following the Mumbai Festival model, other key cities like Nagpur will organise their own festivals, in addition to plans for monsoon and Ganesh festivals to boost tourism.


Prior to this during the tenure of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government then tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray mooted a new tourism policy. This particular policy came into existence in the post-pandemic era which concentrated on adventure sports. That policy included encouraging adventurous activities like hiking, trekking, cycling and others with emphasis on safety and security, and hence unscrupulous operators would not be permitted. However, these guidelines were not applicable to competitive expeditions or other jungle activities. This particular policy had a plan to showcase the rich natural offerings in the state for adventurous exploits of the brave and daring. The state had offered dense forests, mountain ranges of the Western Ghats, rivers, lakes, beaches on the coastal Konkan, etc, with immense potential for air, land and water adventure tourism activities which is not only a growing segment but much in demand globally.


The policy envisages providing special assistance to different organisations, associations and individuals engaged in or organising adventures sports and related activities, registration, regulation, strict monitoring, training, providing necessary infrastructure, and promotions.

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