BJP, Sena may contest separately in MMR

Fadnavis, while speaking to reporters during his recent visit to Delhi, said, “We will fight the BMC elections as Mahayuti”

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s silence on the ruling Mahayuti alliance fighting the upcoming local body polls together in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has led to speculations about “friendly fights” among the Mahayuti partners. The development comes amid the ongoing tussle between Shiv Sena chief and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and BJP minister Ganesh Naik.

CM Devendra Fadnavis (Hindustan Times)

Fadnavis, while speaking to reporters during his recent visit to Delhi and later in Mumbai, said, “We will fight the BMC elections as Mahayuti.”

Though the chief minister has not spoken about alliances in other municipal bodies in the MMR such as Thane, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivli, the BJP will decide about alliances as per the local political situation, sources in the party told Hindustan Times.

“In Mumbai, as Fadnavis said, there will be an alliance for sure. But in other civic bodies in the MMR, the local leadership will be consulted. If we contest as an alliance everywhere, aspiring candidates will either switch to other parties or will fight as independents, which would affect the BJP’s performance,” a BJP leader told HT on condition of anonymity.

State BJP president Ravindra Chavan has also been trying to expand the party in the MMR for the past few months, the leader added.

The BJP and the Shiv Sena have been at loggerheads since the formation of the Mahayuti government under Fadnavis, especially in Thane district where the Sena wants to retain its monopoly. Ganesh Naik from the BJP, however, has been speaking aggressively against the Sena and holding janata darbars in the district. He has also said that the BJP can win the Thane civic poll on its own.

Thane BJP chief Sandeep Lele said local leaders of the party were not opposed to an alliance with the Sena, but only expected that the BJP should get respectable seats in the seat sharing agreement. He also said that the BJP should contest seats in Thane as per its performance and vote share in the assembly elections.

“We will follow orders from the state leadership. But if the leadership gives authority to the Thane BJP unit, then local party leaders will sit together and take a decision, based on the party’s interest,” Lele said.

Another leader said that while the BJP’s strength had increased in the past few years, Shiv Sena had been split into two, with Uddhav Thackeray heading one faction.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, BJP leaders from Navi Mumbai held a meeting at Vashi to discuss the political situation. During the meeting, former corporators told Naik, the supreme leader of the BJP in Navi Mumbai, that the party should go solo in the Navi Mumbai municipal corporation election. They also complained about Shinde’s style of working, after which it was decided that a delegation of Navi Mumbai BJP leaders would meet Fadnavis to raise a complaint about Shinde and request him about the BJP contesting the civic polls in Navi Mumbai on its own.

Responding to statements by BJP leaders, Shiv Sena spokesperson and member of legislative council Manisha Kayande said that decisions about alliances in civic polls depended on the respective strength of political parties and the local situation.

“Local leaders of every party want to contest as many seats as possible. Every party has his stronghold, so equations are different in every civic body. The state leadership of Mahayuti will take a final decision,” Kayande said.

Shinde would protect the interest of local Shiv Sena units, Kayande added.