top of page

By:

Naresh Kamath

5 November 2024 at 5:30:38 am

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief...

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. This belt has five wards and boasts of famous landmarks like the Siddhivinayak temple, Mahim Dargah and Mahim Church, and Chaityabhoomi, along with the Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of Shiv Sena (UBT) combine. This belt is dominated by the Maharashtrians, and hence the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS has been vocal about upholding the Marathi pride. This narrative is being challenged by Shiv Sena (Shinde) leader Sada Sarvankar, who is at the front. In fact, Sada has fielded both his children Samadhan and Priya, from two of these five wards. Take the case of Ward number 192, where the MNS has fielded Yeshwant Killedar, who was the first MNS candidate announced by its chief, Raj Thackeray. This announcement created a controversy as former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Priti Patankar overnight jumped to the Eknath Shinde camp and secured a ticket. This raised heckles among the existing Shiv Sena (Shinde) loyalists who raised objections. “We worked hard for the party for years, and here Priti has been thrust on us. My name was considered till the last moment, and overnight everything changed,” rued Kunal Wadekar, a Sada Sarvankar loyalist. ‘Dadar Neglected’ Killedar said that Dadar has been neglected for years. “The people in chawls don’t get proper water supply, and traffic is in doldrums,” said Killadar. Ward number 191 Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vishaka Raut, former Mumbai mayor, is locked in a tough fight against Priya Sarvankar, who is fighting on the Shiv Sena (Shinde) ticket. Priya’s brother Samadhan is fighting for his second term from neighbouring ward 194 against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Nishikant Shinde. Nishikant is the brother of legislator Sunil Shinde, a popular figure in this belt who vacated his Worli seat to accommodate Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray. Sada Sarvankar exudes confidence that both his children will be victorious. “Samadhan has served the people with all his dedication so much that he put his life at stake during the Covid-19 epidemic,” said Sada. “Priya has worked very hard for years and has secured this seat on merit. She will win, as people want a fresh face who will redress their grievances, as Vishaka Raut has been ineffective,” he added. He says the Mahayuti will Ward number 190 is the only ward where the BJP was the winner last term (2017) in this area, and the party has once nominated its candidate, Sheetal Gambhir Desai. Sheetal is being challenged by Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vaishali Patankar. Sheetal vouches for the BJP, saying it’s time to replace the Shiv Sena (UBT) from the BMC. “They did nothing in the last 25 years, and people should now give a chance to the BJP,” said Sheetal. Incidentally, Sheetal is the daughter of Suresh Gambhir, a hardcore Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray loyalist, who has been a Mahim legislator for 4 terms and even won the 1985 BMC with the highest margin in Mumbai. In the neighbouring ward number 182, Shiv Sena (UBT) has given a ticket to former mayor and veteran corporator Milind Vaidya. He is being challenged by BJP candidate Rajan Parkar. Like the rest of Mumbai, this belt is also plagued by inadequate infrastructure to support the large-scale redevelopment projects. The traffic is in the doldrums, especially due to the closure of the Elphinstone bridge. There are thousands of old buildings and chawls which are in an extremely dilapidated state. The belt is significant, as top leaders like Manohar Joshi, Diwakar Raote and Suresh Gambhir have dominated local politics for years. In fact, Shiv Sena party’s first Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, hailed from this belt.

Welfare marred by political slugfest

Mumbai: As the winter sun set over the Arabian Sea on Friday evening marking the first anniversary of the Mahayuti government’s current term, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wore the look of a man who has weathered a storm to find a steady rhythm. Armed with a decisive mandate and a singular promise to hit the “reset” button on the state’s development engine, Fadnavis continued a quiet, relentless push towards “saturation governance” delivering welfare directly to the doorstep of the common man even though the headlines of 2025 were often dominated by coalition friction.


As the Mahayuti government turns one, the narrative is not merely about the miles of Metro rail added or the investment MoUs signed. It is equally about the bruising political reality of managing the Mahayuti – a three-legged coalition where the other two legs, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, often seem to be marching to their own drumbeats. For Fadnavis, 2025 has been a high-wire walk between his trademark administrative velocity and the relentless gravity of coalition politics.


Explicit Goal

Fadnavis entered 2025 with the explicit goal of reviving the “CEO style” governance that defined his 2014-2019 tenure. His first move was the resurrection of the “CMO War Room,” a monitoring unit designed to bypass bureaucratic lethargy. The results on the infrastructure front have been visible. The long-delayed phases of the Mumbai Metro have seen accelerated trial runs, and the Vadhavan Port project has finally moved from paper to groundwork.


His push for transparency – launching the ‘Maha-Netra’ portal for real-time tracking of civic works – was aimed at cutting the ‘percentage culture’ that the opposition often highlights. To his credit, the administration looks sharper, faster, and more responsive than it has in half a decade.


Coalition Conundrum

However, politics has a way of muddying the clearest of administrative waters. While Fadnavis has the numbers, the internal dynamics of the Mahayuti have been far from smooth. The elephant in the room remains Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.


Having served as Chief Minister prior to this term, Shinde has reportedly found the transition to Number Two difficult.


Sources in Mantralaya whisper of a “cold war” over file clearances. The friction creeped from administration to party organizations and came to a head last month when Shiv Sena ministers took the extreme step to boycott the cabinet meeting to protest the political poaching of grass root workers by the BJP.


If Shinde provided the friction, the NCP provided the shock. Within a month of government coming to power, a senior NCP minister had to resign following allegations of links to an accused in a heinous organized crime syndicate. For Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, this was a double-edged sword. While his swift acceptance of the resignation was meant to signal “zero tolerance,” the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) seized the moment. “How can the Home Minister claim the state is safe when his own cabinet colleagues are dining with gangsters?” said Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar.


The incident chipped away at the “Party with a Difference” image the BJP carefully cultivates. It forced Fadnavis into damage control mode, diverting energy from governance to political firefighting.

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page