top of page

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

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21, 2025

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

Comments

bottom of page