With Maharashtra set to vote in elections to 29 municipal corporations on January 15, the ongoing poll campaign has exposed a bitter rivalry between the ruling Mahayuti partners BJP and Shiv Sena.
In the recently concluded Ambernath Municipal Council elections, held on December 20, the local BJP unit went as far as allying with the Congress to keep the Sena out of power. Ambernath falls within the Thane district, which is considered Shinde’s home turf.
The BJP first joined hands with the Congress under the banner of the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi (AVA), which also included the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Independents, to secure a majority with 32 councillors in the 60-member body.
But in the face of backlash over tying up with a rival, the BJP broke the alliance with the Congress afterwards. However, just a day after the Congress suspended its 12 councillors over this alliance, the BJP opened its doors to them in a bid to maintain its hold on the Ambernath civic body.
But much to the embarrassment of the BJP, the Shiv Sena, which had 27 councillors, managed to get the four NCP councillors on board late on Friday to reach the 31-member majority mark, with the AVA’s tally being reduced to 28 seats.
Stung by the BJP’s move, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde said, “It was a betrayal of coalition dharma,” adding that it was highly unethical for the BJP to engage with rivals to keep its Mahayuti partner out of power.
Officially, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis criticised the BJP’s alignment with the Congress. “The alliance with Congress in Ambernath was unacceptable. We ensured the local unit of the party broke it,” he said. However, Fadnavis has raised no objections to the suspended Congress councillors joining the BJP.
BJP leader and state minister Ashish Shelar defended the move to induct the suspended Congress councillors. “Initially, the BJP-Congress alliance was wrong. Nobody is justifying it. But when suspended councillors chose the BJP as their preferred party, how can it be questioned?”
In another instance of friction between the allies during the local body poll campaign, BJP leader and state minister Ganesh Naik accused Shinde and his party of alleged corruption. Naik, who is the BJP in-charge of Navi Mumbai, ensured there is no pact between the two allies for the corporation poll here. “The brazen misuse of the floor space index, opened by them (Shinde Sena) for contractors to earn money, will make life miserable for citizens in Navi Mumbai in Thane district. In 2029, their (Sena’s) place will be in prison as people will not forgive their loot,” Naik alleged.
Despite a pre-poll pact in Mumbai, the activists of the Shiv Sena and the BJP have been engaged in political one-upmanship at several places. In ward no. 173 of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Sena was slated to field a candidate, but the BJP, too, has fielded a candidate here. As the parties take on each other, the BJP workers raised the slogan “50 khoke, ekdum OK” – which was coined by the Opposition to allege that each of the 40 MLAs who had sided with Shinde to split the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022 was bribed with Rs 50 crore.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena have allied for polls in 14 municipal corporations where the Opposition parties – the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena – have a strong presence. But in the remaining 15 corporations where the Opposition is considered relatively “weaker” – including Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Nashik, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad – the BJP and the Sena have chosen to contest separately in a bid to expand their own political footprints.
Downplaying these developments, Fadnavis said, “We have an alliance with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali and many other civic bodies. It shows we value our alliance partner.”
State BJP chief Ravindra Chavan said, “The civic polls are driven by local units whose aspirations cannot be completely overlooked. Yet, we try not to engage in confrontation where we are contesting separately.”
Some BJP insiders said: “Our leadership at the Centre and in the state conceded to Shinde’s seat sharing demands in Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan-Dombivali (municipal corporations). So, if the BJP tries to gain an upper hand in Ambernath, it should not anger our partner.”
The BJP’s push in the local body elections, even against its own allies, could be attributed to its aspirations for the 2029 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra. The BJP believes it cannot achieve its long-held goal of “shat pratishat (100 per cent)” – the party’s own outright majority in the state – without dominating the three-tiered local bodies.
The control over funding to local bodies and their development work is another factor playing into the BJP strategy, including in Ambernath. “Several hundred crores in funds are promised for the development of Ambernath, including the ancient Shiv temple,” said a highly placed source in the BJP.
Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state minister and the BJP’s local body poll in-charge, explains, “The development in civic bodies will lead to an overall makeover of Maharashtra. Under the able leadership of CM Devendra Fadnavis, who has a vision and political will, we want to bring change in civic bodies.” Bawankule added that the BJP is “not dismissive of alliance partners” as they continue to work together under the Mahayuti banner.
The tussle between the BJP and the Shiv Sena has not gone unnoticed, with the Opposition parties also targeting them. State Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal said, “Maharashtra has never witnessed such murky politics, where three ruling parties BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP are in power in the state and fighting each other bitterly in polls.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut echoed similar sentiments. “Shinde will know the real face of the BJP soon,” he said.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena are locked in an open turf war during Maharashtra’s civic poll campaign, despite being Mahayuti partners at the state level. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre) 
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