“This is not the first time such alliances have happened. But since this time all 288 nagar panchayats and parishads voted together, this issue got highlighted. Also, with the aggression with which the ruling alliance fought this, such alliances got highlighted,” political analyst Abhay Deshpande told ThePrint.
“In local body polls, whichever leader is strong on ground, others join them against the second best. They don’t want to fight under the banner of one political party and they come together against one common rival.”
With elections to 29 corporation elections within a few weeks, these results can impact the parties in the perception battle at least.
“Yes, it will have an impact at least on the fence sitters and workers on ground,” Deshpande explained. “For example, since Thackerays are concentrating on Mumbai wholly and if they don’t look at other corporations, then the grassroot worker might feel disillusioned and join some rival or other party. And this might impact the chances.”
Similar alliances are being explored in places such as Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. Sunday’s results will give a shot in the arm to that experiment.
In Thane’s Ambernath and Badlapur, the Shiv Sena was up against the BJP. This was crucial a crucial battle as these seats fall under the constituency of Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde. For the past few months, tension has been brewing between BJP state president Ravindra Chavan and the Shindes.
In both these places, the BJP won handing a setback to the Shindes as these two seats were with the Sena for the last 25 years.
NCP minister Hasan Mushrif had joined hands with the NCP faction of Sharad Pawar in Chandgad and Kagal against the BJP and the Shiv Sena, respectively. Though the BJP won in Chandgad, Mushrif’s alliance won Kagal.
“When this alliance happened, it was a shock for the people and everyone. We didn’t know whether anyone would accept our alliance or not. This was a difficult job for us considering we didn’t know how our workers would react,” Mushrif told the media. “I want to thank the voters for keeping faith in Kagal. And in future too, we will form such an alliance as well.”
In neighbouring Sindhudurg district, BJP’s Kankavali MLA Nitesh Rane lost to Shiv Sena MLA Nilesh Rane-backed Shahar Vikas Aghadi candidate.
“I accept the people’s decision. This is democracy and going forward we will think what more to do for the region and how we can improve our performance,” Nitesh told the media.
His brother Nilesh refused to comment on the internal tensions within the Mahayuti. “We do not want to speak about infighting within the Mahayuti, as the elections are over now.”
In Ratnagiri’s Chiplun, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena won against Mahayuti ally, the NCP (Ajit Pawar). But, BJP’s Sandeep Bhise won by just one vote to be elected as president of the municipal council.
As for Raigad, the fight involved the NCP (Ajit Pawar)-plus the BJP against Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Raigad has seen tussle over the guardian minister’s post, with NCP’s Sunil Tatkare whose daughter Aditi was named as guardian minister slugging it out against Sena’s Bharat Gogawale.
Gogawale, the local MLA, was able to exert his influence in the Mahad local body polls. The NCP won 3 councils, the Shiv Sena 3, and the BJP 1 in Raigad district. The remaining councils went to the MVA’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP(SP)
“Mahad win tells what voters want here. I thank them and our friends who helped us. Some magic had to be done. In politics, some strategies had to be used. And we won accordingly,” Gogawale told the media.
In Nashik, where a race is between the BJP and the Shiv Sena for the guardian minister’s post, Chhagan Bhujbal led the NCP-BJP alliance against the Sena to win in Yeola, Bhagur, and Sinnar.
The Sena won in one place and the BJP two in the rest of Nashik district.
The opposition MVA had joined hands with Shinde’s Shiv Sena in Palghar where the rainbow alliance won in two places. The BJP had to be content with one seat.
In its former bastion of Nanded, the Congress formed an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi but it won only 1 of the 11 local bodies. The BJP won 3, the NCP 3, the Shiv Sena 2 and the Sena UBT 1. The remaining one when to other candidates.
“There is no friendly fight even if they (political parties) say it. All parties fought tooth and nail and the results are out there,” Deshpande asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)