As the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday announced the poll schedule for all 29 municipal corporations in the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the state’s ruling parties signalled they had set aside their differences over power-sharing and “poaching” of each other’s leaders, and would contest the January 15 polls unitedly under the Mahayuti banner.
While the corporation election results are scheduled to be announced on January 16, the zilla parishad poll schedule has not been announced yet.
“Our effort is to contest the local body polls under the Mahayuti’s banner. The BJP and Shiv Sena will together contest the municipal corporation polls, including the BMC polls. Our allies understand that we will be ceding space to others in the BMC if we go our separate ways. The BJP and its allies will win whether or not (Shiv Sena-UBT chief) Uddhav Thackeray and (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president) Raj Thackeray come together,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday, shortly after the SEC’s announcement.
The truce came about a week after Shiv Sena leader and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde complained to Amit Shah about the state BP and was told by the Union Home Minister that he should sort out his problems with them directly, it is learnt.
“The BJP and Shiv Sena have come together based on the common ideology of Hindutva. We also have a common rival in the Sena (UBT)-Congress-NCP(SP) combine. Hence, we will collectively contest the polls and ensure a respectable seat-sharing formula while accommodating each other,” Shinde said Monday.
The Shinde-Shah meeting set in motion Mahayuti’s “course correction”, sources said, adding that following the meeting, the deputy CM met Fadnavis in Nagpur on December 9, where it was decided that the alliance partners would put forward a united face for the corporation elections. “It was also decided that both parties will not poach each other’s leaders. A day later, (state BJP chief) Ravindra Chavan met Shah in Delhi and upon his return, he held a meeting with Shinde to firm up the alliance,” said an insider.
Two days later, Fadnavis, Shinde, and NCP leader Ajit Pawar, also a Deputy CM, had breakfast at the CM’s official residence. The three also used the Winter Session of the Assembly, held between December 8 and 14 in Nagpur, to iron out their differences. Apart from this, Mahayuti leaders held a series of closed-door meetings to iron out any differences.
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Pawar is learnt to have said at an internal party meeting in Nagpur last week that the NCP must maintain cordial relations with its allies. “Matters can be stretched only till their breaking point. We are in favour of cordial relations with our alliance partners and want unity,” he said after the meeting.
The “course correction” came after the run-up to the phase 1 of local body polls on December 2 saw the three ruling parties bicker over “poaching” each other’s leaders. The tussle seemingly also dented the Fadnavis government’s perception just at a time when it completed one year in power, prompting the state and central leadership of the BJP to streamline the alliance, keeping the local body polls in mind.
However, even for the BJP, the truce was not an easy sell even within its ranks as several local leaders wanted the party to go it alone and consider a post-poll alliance, if needed. “However, the central leadership felt it could antagonise alliance partners, whose support is crucial at the Centre. Also, a BJP versus Sena contest would play into the hands of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the NCP(SP),” said a BJP leader.
Why BMC is important for BJP
For the BJP, resolving differences with its allies was important ahead of the crucial BMC polls.
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“The BMC polls have become a prestigious issue as the central and state BJP want to avenge the 2019 betrayal by ending the Shiv Sena’s three-decade rule (referring to Uddhav’s Sena UBT). We extracted some sort of revenge after splitting the Sena in 2022. The BMC, which is the Sena (UBT)’s lifeline and identity, is our next target,” said a senior BJP leader.
Two years before the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP won 1,099 of the 2,736 seats in 27 municipal corporations (Jalna and Ichalkaranji were upgraded after the polls) with a vote share of 31.3%. The undivided Sena came second, winning 489 seats with a 18.49% vote share, while the Congress finished with 439 seats and a 15.53% vote share. The undivided NCP won 294 seats with a 11.06% vote share.
In an intensely contested BMC election in 2017, the BJP with 82 seats finished just behind the undivided Sena, which won 84 of the 227 seats. Despite the rivalry during the campaign, the BJP provided outside support to the Sena in the BMC and allowed it to retain the Mayor’s post.
However, discord over power-sharing after the 2019 elections saw the Uddhav-led Sena break ties with the BJP and join forces with long-time political rivals NCP — now Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) — and the Congress to form the government.