Amit Shah visiting Nanded today, why it is crucial for BJP prospects in Maharashtra local body polls

In addition to the existing 27 municipal corporations, two newly created corporations in Ichalkaranji and Jalna will also go to polls, as will local bodies down to the panchayat level. Already, the parties, both from the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), have swung into action for these polls.

After arriving in Nagpur late on Sunday, Shah will on Monday head to Nanded, where he is expected to hold closed-door meetings on the local body polls with senior BJP leaders and then address a public rally to set the tone for it.

“For the BJP, every election is important. Whether it is Lok Sabha or Assembly or municipal corporation. And both the state and central leadership together plan the strategies and implement it,” said a BJP functionary.

Significance of Nanded

Nanded, home to the renowned Hazur Sahib gurdwara, has been closely identified with late Congress leader and former chief minister Shankarrao Chavan, whose legacy was inherited by his son and ex-CM Ashok Chavan, senior BJP leader.

Former two-time Nanded Lok Sabha MP Ashok Chavan left the Congress in February 2024 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and joined the BJP, which soon nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. His daughter Sreejaya Chavan later contested from the Bhokar Assembly seat on a BJP ticket and won.

With the rally in Nanded to be addressed by Shah, Ashok Chavan will be looking to project a show of strength on his home turf.

Ahead of Shah’s visit, Chavan held a series of meetings with several prominent local leaders from the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) – an exercise that is being seen as a tactical move to induct them into the BJP fold to weaken the two key MVA parties and consolidate the BJP’s support base for the local body polls.

“We are in talks with former MLAs as well as some other leaders of Congress and NCP(SP) in Nanded. They would be inducted into the BJP during Shah’s visit,” said a close aide of Chavan.

On the BJP’s push to induct leaders from rival parties, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “If anybody from other parties is keen to come and work in the BJP, we welcome them. If more people across party lines want to lend a hand in the development of Viksit Bharat under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra, it is good for India and Maharashtra.”

With Chavan on its side now, the BJP has gained a foothold in Nanded district, which has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. While Chavan’s influence did not bear fruit in the Lok Sabha polls, which saw the BJP lose the Nanded constituency, his impact was felt in the November 2024 Assembly polls as the BJP and Shiv Sena were together able to wipe out the Congress from the Nanded district. While the BJP won four Assembly segments in Nanded, the Eknath Shinde-led Sena won the remaining two segments.

Now, the fight for the Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation (NWMC) is the next challenge for Chavan and the BJP.

Founded in 1997, the NWMC has also been a Congress stronghold. In the last 28 years, the BJP has never won the NWMC polls. The Congress’s control here was interrupted only in 1997-98, when the Shiv Sena was briefly at its helm. After the last civic body polls in 2017, the NWMC’s term expired in 2022 and has since been run by a government-appointed administrator owing to the delay in local body elections.

Seat-sharing in local body polls

Fadnavis has said the BJP would contest the local body polls with its Mahayuti allies, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. However, where local party units are unwilling to contest with allies, Fadnavis has called for the campaigns to “maintain decorum”, adding that the parties would come together to form post-poll alliances.

“All these talks related to seat sharing will take place among the top leadership. We will adequately consider our local units’ views on alliances,” Bawankule said.

The local body elections, however, give the Mahayuti’s constituents a chance to consolidate their own support bases. The Sena, for instance, at a recent party meeting demanded 100 of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC)’s 227 seats. While there is no official proposal from the Sena yet, the BJP has dismissed it as “political rhetoric”.

Shah, for his part, is likely to play a key role in ensuring that the BJP, Sena and NCP are able to manage governance as well as electoral politics without any rifts.

However, the primary feedback from the BJP units in at least 16 municipal corporations across the state, including Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, is for the party to contest the upcoming local body elections without allies, party sources said.