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How a Bhiwandi municipal corporation coup exposed BJP’s faultlines
A section of the BJP believes that there is no need to act against rebel Narayan Chaudhary, as he still represents the party in the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation.
The election, marked by twists and turns, eventually saw BJP rebel Narayan Chaudhary being elected as mayor with Congress backing on Friday, while Congress candidate Tariq Momin clinched the deputy mayor’s post. (File Photo)
The Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation mayoral election has laid bare the BJP’s faultlines, revealing both its mishandling of an in-house rebellion and its strained ties with Mahayuti partner, the Shiv Sena.
The election, marked by twists and turns, eventually saw BJP rebel Narayan Chaudhary being elected as mayor with Congress backing on Friday, while Congress candidate Tariq Momin clinched the deputy mayor’s post. Chaudhary defied the party whip to win 48 votes, resulting in official BJP candidate Snehal Patil polling just 16 votes, and Vilas Patil of Konark Vikas Aghadi securing 25 votes.
“We will take strict action against all those who rebelled and defied the party whip,” state BJP president Ravindra Chavan said, explaining why things took such a turn. “The Bhiwandi local unit had unanimously supported Chaudhary’s candidature for the mayoral post, and accordingly, he was told to file the nomination form. Later, it came to light that Chaudhary had sharp differences with Vilas Patil. To avoid a dispute, the BJP decided to pick Sneha Patil as the candidate,” he added.
Upset, Chaudhary and his supporters formed a ‘secular front’ and joined hands with the Congress-NCP (SP), a move that paid off on Friday.
“In local body polls, local level compromises are not new. Here, it was evident that the Shiv Sena, led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was not working with the BJP,” a BJP official said. The Shinde faction had withdrawn its mayoral nominees at the last minute and backed Vilas Patil.
“The Shiv Sena also was trying to reach out to corporators across parties, including the BJP,” a source said. “In that sense, it is better that Chaudhary retained a separate group instead of joining Shiv Sena,” the source added.
Within a section of the BJP, the view is that apart from seeking an explanation, there is little need to crack the whip over the revolt, as Chaudhary, in their eyes, still represents the BJP in the Bhiwandi civic body.
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The election also brought to the fore the simmering tension between the BJP and the Shiv Sena at the local level. Despite being coalition partners, the two have struggled to reconcile their differences. In Thane district, considered Shinde’s turf, the Shiv Sena works aggressively, while the BJP has given a free hand to senior leaders Ravindra Chavan and minister Ganesh Naik to counter the Shiv Sena.
State Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal said the Bhiwandi election showed that the BJP “can be beaten in its own game”. A BJP poll manager, however, dismissed the results as “an aberration”. “If you look at the overall picture, the BJP has mayors in 25 out of the total 29 municipal corporations. It is a great victory,” he said. “At times, individual ambitions override ideology as seen in Bhiwandi,” he added.
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