BJP infighting opens door for Congress in crucial Bhiwandi mayoral contest

SP rift shapes battle

The roots of Bhiwandi’s current political churn lie in a public fallout between Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East, Rais Shaikh, and his former mentor and Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief Abu Asim Azmi, who too was elected as an MLA from Bhiwandi earlier.

The split divided local Samajwadi Party ranks and shaped the electoral outcome for Municipal Corporations in the town, which lies about 50 kilometres from Mumbai and has a Muslim population of over 50 percent. The Congress leadership in the state allowed Rais Shaikh significant control over its electoral strategy in Bhiwandi, including ticket distribution. Shaikh campaigned aggressively against Samajwadi Party candidates loyal to Azmi, creating anger amongst many of the SP corporators who won.

However, this internal tussle has now complicated efforts to form a stable alliance after the results.

The numbers game

The 90 member House requires 46 votes for a majority. The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 30 seats. The BJP has 22, while the NCP and Shiv Sena have 12 each. The Samajwadi Party holds six seats. Konark Vikas Aghadi and Bhiwandi Vikas Aghadi have four and three seats respectively, and there is one Independent.

To keep the BJP led alliance out of power, Rais Shaikh, the Congress, NCP and a reluctant Samajwadi Party formed the Bhiwandi Secular Front post elections with a proposed formula of a Muslim Mayor and a Hindu Deputy Mayor. But the arrangement ran into trouble when Samajwadi Party corporators expressed reluctance to align with Rais Shaikh, accusing him of working against some of their party nominees during the civic polls. This left the front short of the majority mark.

The BJP, meanwhile, hoped to gather support from smaller parties and the Shiv Sena to claim the Mayor’s post. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was also keen on ensuring that a candidate from his party’s ranks could secure the position.

Arrest adds drama

The contest took another dramatic turn when former mayor Vilas Patil, chief of the Konark Vikas Aghadi and a local strongman with four corporators, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing in an alleged cheating case just days before nominations. He was remanded to police custody till February 18. A Bhiwandi court allowed him to file his nomination, stating that contesting elections is a constitutional right. His wife Pratibha Patil and son, advocate Mayuresh Patil, also entered the race.

In total, 10 nominations were filed for Mayor and seven for Deputy Mayor.

BJP split opens new possibility

Though the BJP and Shiv Sena fought the civic elections together, they fielded separate candidates for the Mayor’s post. The BJP initially declared Narayan Ratan Chaudhary as its official nominee. However, days later, district leaders announced Sneha Mehul Patil as the official candidate instead.

The sudden change triggered resentment within the BJP. Chaudhary claimed he had worked to gather support for his mayoral bid but was sidelined.

“The BJP made me a corporator and candidate for mayor. I am thankful to them. I tried my best to form a coalition to become the mayor. People from within my party however did not help me. I have received a letter that they are making Sneha Patil the BJPs official nominee for the post of mayor. I am now going to start discussions with the Bhiwandi Secular Forum,” Chaudhary said.

Soon after, the Congress formally backed Chaudhary as the Secular Front’s candidate and issued a whip to its corporators.

At least nine BJP corporators are said to be considering forming a separate group and joining the Secular Front. Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal and NCP SP MP Suresh Mhatre addressed a joint press conference announcing that Chaudhary’s group had decided to quit the BJP and align with the Front.

“We have already said that we cannot ally either with the BJP or Shinde led Sena. Narayan Chaudhari is a former Congress corporator who had switched sides to join the BJP. He has now not only decided to quit the BJP but even their ideology. He has returned and we have decided to accept him in the secular front,” Sapkal said.

The Congress led Secular Front appears confident of turning the tables on the BJP by backing a rebel from its ranks. Yet, given the shifting loyalties and internal dissent across parties, uncertainty still hangs over the final outcome.