More seats for Sena, ‘tainted’ candidates in fray leave BJP workers in Mumbai angry

The Shiv Sena led by Chief Eknath Shinde and BJP have been at loggerheads over seat sharing. Shinde’s assertion over 15 seats including three in Mumbai region, apart for Thane, Nashik and Kalyan, and the choice of candidates, have led to massive unrest within alliance partner BJP.

The Thane BJP unit is vehemently opposed to Shiv Sena candidate Naresh Mhaske. Instead, they wanted Sanjeev Naik, elder son of senior leader Ganesh Naik as the Mahayuti candidate.

Naik supporters came to BJP headquarters in Mumbai and met senior leaders V Satish and Sanjay Upadhayay seeking replacement of candidates in Thane. They held a protest outside the BJP office.

They assured their sentiments would be conveyed to top state and central leadership.

Ghanshyam Madvi, Navi Mumbai corporator, said, “We cannot accept Mhaske as our candidate. Nobody knows him in the constituency.”

Whereas, BJP’s Sanjeev Naik has been working relentlessly for the past five years, he said adding that if the party does not replace the candidate they will not campaign.

Another corporator Ganesh Mhatre said, “Naik family has a stronghold in the constituency. If Sanjeev Naik is denied the ticket, we will lose a sizable vote share. Moreover, the decision to field Mhaske amounts to finishing BJP’s base in Thane which is not acceptable to us.”

Attempts by Shinde Sena to pacify angry BJP leaders proved futile.

Senior Shinde Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik and Mhaske met Ganesh Naik at his office in vain.

Apart from Thane, Shiv Sena’s decision to field Yamini Jadhav and Ravindra Waikar — both candidates who had earlier faced corruption charges — has upset the local BJP leaders and workers in Mumbai with many of them wondering how they can campaign for those against whom they bitterly fought till recently.

The Shinde Sena had fielded Jadhav from Mumbai South constituency and Waikar in Mumbai North West.

During the seat-sharing the BJP had laid claim over four out of six seats in the Mumbai region.

At the party meetings, it was earlier decided that Shiv Sena would contest two seats —Mumbai South Central and Mumbai North West, whereas, the BJP would retain Mumbai North, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North East and Mumbai South.

Much to the BJP’s surprise, Shinde Sena laid its claim on Mumbai South arguing that the seat division in Mumbai for six seats should be equal: three each between BJP and Shinde Sena.

Finally, the BJP conceded to the Shinde’s Sena demand leaving many local leaders and workers angry.

A Mumbai BJP functionary, on condition of anonymity, said, “We always took pride in BJP as a party with a difference. Unfortunately, we have not turned into a party with indifference. Or else why would we give the Mumbai South seat to ally when we had two strong contenders in Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Cabinet minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

The BJP leader Kirit Somaiyya had launched a scathing campaign against Yamini Jadhav following discrepancies in her affidavit during 2019 Assembly polls. The charge was that Jadhav had concealed three properties she jointly shared with her mother in Ratnagiri district.

Similarly, BJP was at the forefront of attacking Waikar, a former minister and MLA from Jogeshwari ( East), over alleged corruption charges.

Somaiyya had accused Waikar of land grabbing and five star hotel construction  fraud in Jogeshwari in Mumbai.

The corruption campaign against Waikar, who was once close to Shiv Sena ( UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, was run by BJP from 2019 to 2023. Waikar was also questioned by ED in a money laundering case in January 2024.

In March 2024, Waikar switched loyalties from Shiv Sena ( UBT) to Shinde Sena, which fielded him from the Mumbai North West seat.

Unsettled by these developments, Somaiyya said, ‘In a coalition politics, alliance partners have their right to decide the candidates. Some adjustments are integral to coalition politics.”

As far as BJP is concerned, he argued, “Our objective is to ensure a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a mandate of 400 plus for NDA.”

At BJP headquarters a BJP official admits, “ Unko seat bhi diya, aab unko jeetane ki jimmedari bhi humare par…..( They have been given seats and now responsibility to getting them elected also lies on us).

Angry BJP workers huddled outside party premises try to cool their anger by gulping cold drink.  As someone who has risen from grassroot, a Thane- based office bearer quipped, ‘ We are so focussed on increasing seats tally that we cannot see the ground slipping from us.’

“The organisational network built in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Nashik, Kalyan took four generations of hard work. There are thousands of dedicated workers who work round the clock for the organisation. When things looked good, we handed on platter these constituencies to alliance partner Shiv Sena. After elections the alliance leaders will dominate the constituencies. So, we will be back to square one,” he explained.

When asked about issues being raised by BJP workers on candidate selection of Shiv Sena on certain seats in and around Mumbai, Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP president, said, “It is true that our party workers have some issues. But that is what democracy is. If they have some issues and they are bringing it up to party leaders, there is nothing wrong in it. The fact is that we are all working for the third term of PM Modi and everyone is unified in this vision.”

In June 2022, when BJP took decision to form alliance with Shinde Sena to dislodge Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the central leadership decided to make Eknath Shinde the CM, in a  a big jolt to Devendra Fadnavis, who was given the Deputy CM’s post.

To placate the anger within the organisation, the BJP strategists came up with a narrative: “At times you have to sacrifice your best leader in the organisation’s larger interest.”

Today, when BJP has conceded 15 Lok Sabha seats out of 48 to Shinde the poll managers argue it was adhering to the “coalition dharma’.

BJP, despite being the largest party in Maharashtra with 105 MLAs, had to give away 20 seats to alliance partners — 15 for Shiv Sena , four for Ajit Pawar-led NCP, one for RSP. The BJP has fielded candidates in  28 seats.

On Thursday,  BJP announced Hemant Vishnu Sawra as its candidate for Palghar seat. Savra is the son of late BJP leader Vishnu Savra. The Shinde Sena had staked claim on the seat but the BJP was keen on fighting from Palghar.

State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “The BJP believes in taking everybody along for which it has to make some sacrifices. This election is for 2047 Viksit Bharat. For us, the victory of every candidate will mean victory for Modi.”

According to insiders,  Shinde Sena has impressed upon central leadership that if it has to give a tough fight to Uddhav Sena, it cannot antagonise its cadre seeking more representation in polls.

Sources who are part of seat negotiations said, “Shinde faction wanted 16 to 18 seats. Their argument was that in the 2019 polls, undivided Sena had won 18 seats.”

On its part BJP countered saying that out of 18 MPs Shinde camp had 13, while the remaining five is with Thackeray.

Despite a bitter battle over the seats that delayed the announcement of candidates, the BJP had to withdraw its claim over Mumbai South, Thane, Nashik and Kalyan.