'Avoid Attacking Allies': D Fadnavis' 'Go Easy' Tip To BJP After Sena Win

In a significant development following the BJP's stellar win in the Maharashtra local body polls, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked party leaders to avoid sharp attacks on the BJP's allies, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP. According to sources, the BJP's core team met at the Chief Minister's official residence last night to review the party's performance. Despite the BJP's historic tally, Fadnavis flagged defeats in some municipal councils and nagar panchayats, including in districts with BJP MLAs.

The Chief Minister said the BJP should perform better in civic body polls. In a significant warning, Fadnavis advised BJP leaders to maintain restraint and avoid sharp attacks on allies during the civic polls campaign, even if seat-sharing arrangements do not materialise, the sources said. 

The Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP swept the elections to 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats. The allies won 207 president posts between them and restricted the opposition bloc of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) to 44. The BJP won 117 president posts, the Sena 53 and the NCP 37. In the opposition camp, Congress was the best performer, winning 28 seats.

The run-up to the polls saw bitter exchanges within the NDA camp as the BJP, Sena and NCP struggled to finalise seat-sharing. There were multiple 'friendly fights' in which allies took on each other.

A big takeaway from the election is the performance of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. This is the first time since the Sena split that it contested directly against the BJP on several seats. And despite being a junior partner in the NDA bloc, Mahayuti, the Sena ended up with a higher strike rate than the BJP.

It also expanded beyond its traditional strongholds Konkan and Thane belt, and made inroads into rural and semi-urban parts of Maharashtra.

"Those who said Shiv Sena was limited only to Thane have now got their answer. Shiv Sena has reached from 'Chanda to Banda', across Maharashtra," Shinde said after the party's stellar show.

Shinde Makes A Point

Eknath Shinde led the 2022 mutiny that split the Shiv Sena and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. He managed to retain the Sena's name and symbol, but Uddhav Thackeray, once his leader, repeatedly questioned the Shinde Sena's political legitimacy.

As for his allies, the BJP's backing of Shinde as Chief Minister was seen as a tactical move, a temporary arrangement till the Maharashtra polls, after which Fadnavis took over as Shinde became his deputy. The leader from Thane was not happy, and he fought hard with the BJP to secure key ministerial berths for his supporters.

Over the past year, there has been talk of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis. Party insiders suggested attempts by the BJP to diminish Shinde's growing political stature and induct leaders from his party into the BJP. Shinde has resisted these challenges strongly, and the Sena's local body polls put him on a strong footing ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation election.

"Trailer" For BMC Election

Thanking the people of Maharashtra for their support, Fadnavis has said the victory in local body polls is "just a trailer of what we will see in the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections".

The BMC election is scheduled for January 15 and the results will be declared the next day. The last election for the civic body was held in 2017, and the then-undivided Shiv Sena scored the highest tally.

In this election, however, the two factions of Sena following the 2022 split will fight a prestige battle.

Eknath Shinde's party, meanwhile, has sent a strong message to ally BJP with its stellar show in the local body polls. This will help Shinde push for a better deal in seat-sharing. There is, however, no alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

For the Opposition, it would be quite a challenge to claw back from the setback it has suffered in the Assembly polls and the more recent local body election and put up a strong fight.

The Shiv Sena has dominated the BMC polls for about three decades now.