Devendra Fadnavis’ moment: How BJP scripted civic poll triumph in Maharashtra

In a victory speech to BJP workers at the state BJP headquarters, Fadnavis said, “The BJP offered a developmental agenda. We put it before the people and they responded positively. We have received a record-breaking mandate in many municipal corporations and it underscores that people want honesty and development. That is why people voted for the BJP.”

Staking claim to the legacy of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, the CM said “Balasaheb’s blessings” had helped the ruling party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena secure victory. The BJP and Sena’s principal rival in Mumbai was the Sena founder’s son, Uddhav Thackeray, and his party Shiv Sena (UBT).

“The verdict reflects the trust of the people of Maharashtra in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies pursued by the BJP-led alliance,” Fadnavis said.

BJP leaders in Mumbai said the CM focused on choosing candidates with strong local presence and kept the campaign centred on civic issues such as roads, sanitation, and infrastructure. This helped the party attract voters from areas where the Shiv Sena’s base had weakened after the split. The results show that voters responded positively to a party that appeared stable, organised, and capable of running the city, the BJP functionaries said.

The BJP script

The script of the BJP’s dominance in the three-tier local body polls was meticulously planned and executed, keeping in mind Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s target of “shath pratishat BJP”, or 100% BJP, illustrating its expansionist plans in Maharashtra politics.

To achieve this target, the party had to take into account the complex political permutations and combinations in the state that often saw its workers clash with their allies to protect their local interests.  Several times, amid friction with the Shinde-led Sena over the poaching of each other’s grassroots leaders, Fadnavis had to step in to steer the alliance away from choppy waters.

Fadnavis also campaigned as if the local elections were Assembly or parliamentary polls, addressing multiple rallies each day and hopping from one district to another, making good governance and development his main poll plank.

“Fadnavis took the risk of shouldering the responsibility, knowing well the coming together of the estranged Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, could whip up the emotive plank of Marathi asmita (pride). As a result, a decision was taken not to get central BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to address rallies in Mumbai. Even Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath was not invited to campaign. It was a tactical move to deprive Thackeray of the opportunity to whip up an anti-Gujarat, anti-North India campaign,” said a senior BJP functionary.

This was just one part of a multi-pronged strategy that included an expansion drive, overseen by state BJP president Ravindra Chavan. It saw the BJP opening its doors wide open to accommodate suitable candidates from the Opposition parties in large numbers. This “tod fod ki rajneeti (politics of breaking up rival parties)” had helped the BJP earlier at the state level — both the Sena and the NCP were split — and the party continued with this at the taluka level too, bringing in smaller, local players with their spheres of influence and weakening its rivals.

Then there was a push to ensure multi-cornered contests that, while exposing the divide within both the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi, largely proved beneficial for the BJP that could tide over differences because of its superior access to resources and manpower. With the Shiv Sena (UBT) joining hands with the MNS, the Congress allied with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. Similarly, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP allied with Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) in two civic bodies. This fractured any chance of a wider, anti-BJP consolidation.

Third, to effectively counter Thackeray cousins’ Marathi asmita politics in BMC, the BJP and Fadnavis pushed the Hindutva plank subtly at various levels, believing it would help override any caste or community divide. This helped consolidate the Hindu vote,  not just in Mumbai but across other municipal corporations such as Nashik, Dhule, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Akola, and Nanded, where minorities form a sizable chunk of the population.

Fadnavis referred to this in his victory speech, telling BJP workers, “Our agenda will always be development and we will use our victory to transform the lives of people. Hindutva has always been our soul and one can not differentiate our Hindutva from development. Our Hindutva is inclusive.”