With Ravindra Dhangekar’s return to Shiv Sena, Pune politics set to witness major churn, especially within Mahayuti

The five-year term of the last elected body of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) ended in 2022 after which the city has been governed by an administrator.

The last PMC polls were won by the BJP while the undivided NCP was the main Opposition party after being in power for ten years. Since the split, most local NCP leaders and workers are with the Ajit Pawar-led party.

The presence of Congress, undivided Shiv Sena and MNS had significantly been reduced to single-digit numbers in PMC. The Congress has failed to win any assembly seat in Pune in last three elections except for the Kasba bypoll in 2023, when Dhangekar won the seat. The steady downfall of Congress in its bastion Pune began in 2007 when it lost power in PMC.

Dhangekar as Shiv Sena’s city face

In the last decade, the presence of Shiv Sena had dwindled in the city and there has been a lack of strong leadership to hold the reins of the party. The last time the Shiv Sena won the Assembly seats in Pune was in 2009 when Chandrakant Mokate and Mahadeo Babar served as legislators till 2014.

Further, the split in the party damaged the prospects of both factions under Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray. Dhangekar’s presence will now provide an aggressive face for the Shiv Sena in Pune. The five-time corporator has represented the Shiv Sena and MNS twice each and the Congress once.

More face for Shiv Sena (UBT)

On the other hand, the Sena (UBT) still seems to be struggling to regain its lost pride in city politics. Former legislators Babar and Mokate have distanced themselves from the party after the Assembly elections. However, another firebrand leader Vasant More, who started his political career as a Shiv Sena worker, joined the Sena (UBT) ahead of the Assembly elections. A three-time PMC corporator representing the MNS, More had joined the party at its inception and left it last year after being sidelined while contesting the Lok Sabha election as a candidate for the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).

Dhangekar tussle with the BJP

Dhangekar has been the target of the BJP in city politics due to his popularity in the party bastion of Kasba. His tussle with the saffron party intensified when he defeated senior leader Ganesh Bidkar in the 2017 civic elections. It continued in the 2023 Kasba bypoll which the BJP lost after 28 years. The Congress later fielded him as Lok Sabha candidate from Pune and then Kasba Assembly last year against the BJP but he lost the poll. “It’s a fact that the BJP leaders have been troubling me for a long time. They filed a property-related case against my wife during the elections last year and tried to get her arrested. We are not scared and have done nothing wrong,” Dhangekar said on Tuesday.

NCP hopes to gain from Dhangekar-BJP tussle

NCP chief Ajit Pawar is Pune’s guardian minister and the entire district is his stronghold. His party is keen to regain its hold in the PMC but faces a bigger challenge in the form of an upbeat BJP and now the re-emerging Shiv Sena. “The growth of Shiv Sena in Pune is going to be a bigger concern for the BJP than the NCP. Dhangekar is known to be a rival of the BJP so joining the Shiv Sena will affect the BJP’s prospects in the civic polls, mainly in the heart of city where he has more influence,” said an NCP leader.

Did not gain anything through Dhangekar: Congress

The Congress was the strongest party in the city for long but the NCP pulled it down from the corridors of power. Its downfall has since continued. The victory of Dhangekar in the Kasba bypoll had raised its hope of a revival but Dhangekar has now quit the party.

“To be frank, what did the party gain from Dhangekar is a big question so his going away will not affect the Congress. In fact, the party cadre worked hard for all the elections contested by him on a party ticket so we will apologise to the cadre,” said city Congress chief Arvind Shinde, adding that Dhangekar was never active in party work and hardly visited the party office. “He didn’t have the courtesy to inform his decision to Congress leaders despite being given so many opportunities,” said Arvind.