BJP-Shiv Sena alliance strained in Navi Mumbai as cadres push for going solo

BJP's Navi Mumbai unit resists alliance with Shiv Sena for municipal elections, emphasizing strength to lead independently amid internal party tensions.

NAVI MUMBAI: The BJP’s local unit in Navi Mumbai has signalled a strong resistance to a formal electoral alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena for the upcoming Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections, exposing visible fault lines within the ruling Mahayuti even as state leaders project unity ahead of the civic polls.

BJP-Shiv Sena alliance strained in Navi Mumbai as cadres push for going solo

Former MP Sanjeev Naik, the BJP’s Navi Mumbai election in-charge, articulated this mood among the party’s grass-roots workers. “The BJP’s two MLAs have comfortably won the assembly elections here in the last decade,” he said, adding that the local unit believed that the BJP had the strength to lead the civic body on its own. “After years of groundwork, if there is an alliance with the Shiv Sena, it would be unfair to loyal workers, as seats will have to be conceded.” Naik said these concerns would be placed before the party’s senior leadership and also asserted that the mayor’s post in Navi Mumbai should be held by the BJP.

This local stance contrasts with the state-level Mahayuti narrative, where senior BJP and Shiv Sena leaders have indicated that the elections will be fought together. In Navi Mumbai, however, the BJP’s continued ward-wise candidate interviews and independent preparations underline a discomfort with making concessions, particularly after the prolonged decade-long gap in the civic elections. Over 850 aspirants have been interviewed for tickets across 111 wards.

Senior BJP leader and forest minister Ganesh Naik has reinforced the message of going solo by intensifying outreach to party workers and former corporators. “There is no reason why we cannot lead the NMMC,” he said. BJP MLA Manda Mhatre said the party’s immediate priority was to ensure a BJP-led civic body, adding that she and Ganesh Naik would work together despite past differences. “Party loyalists who have played an important role in my three electoral victories deserve justice now,” she said.

Against this backdrop, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena has stepped up organisational consolidation in Navi Mumbai through some high-profile defections. The Shinde camp has become the preferred destination for key defectors—sources indicate that while the Naik camp was in active contact with them, they ultimately opted for the Shiv Sena. On December 16, five former NMMC corporators from the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress joined the Shinde camp, including four-time former Airoli corporator M K Madhavi and former Belapur corporator and Congress district chief Poonam Patil.

In the Sena camp, leaders, while cautiously indicating that they too wanted to go solo and expressing confidence in their victory, said they would accept the leadership’s decision. “The election should be viewed as an exercise in strengthening alliance politics rather than a fight for political survival,” said Shiv Sena leader Vijay Chougule. Navi Mumbai chief Kishore Patkar stated that the Sena expected “due political respect” within the alliance. “We have faced several issues over the years despite being in an alliance,” he said. “However, the local cadres will abide by the decision taken by Eknath Shinde.”