MUMBAI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah told BJP workers on Monday to ensure a “triple engine government” in the state by winning the upcoming local body polls. Amid the BJP’s tussle with its ruling alliance partners over seat-sharing in civic polls, Shah reminded the party workers that the BJP had formed the government on its own after contesting the 2014 assembly election separately.
During his two-day visit to Mumbai, Shah has reportedly discussed issues related to the alliance with Shiv Sena and NCP in the local body polls, seat sharing and poaching of leaders from the ruling partners. Shah’s visit to the city comes at a time when preparations are mounting for the elections to municipal corporations and various other local bodies in December 2024 – January 2025. Addressing the party workers after laying the foundation stone for a new BJP office in south Mumbai, Shah made it clear that the party aims to dominate the local polls. He also said the allies should be reminded that the party has enough strength on the ground to win on its own, if necessary.
“The party workers should enter the ring with full vigour and might, and put in such hard work that all local bodies, including corporations, district councils, and panchayat samitis are won by the party,” he said. “The opposition should not even be seen from the telescope. The people of the country are ready to welcome the BJP. We were in the number 4 position before the 2014 assembly polls, but 10 years later, we are in the top position and running the government with a full majority.”
Ahead of the local body polls, when the party’s relations with its alliance parties were strained, he said the party managed to win on its own after snapping ties with its long-standing ally (Shiv Sena). “In 2014, I was national president of the party, and I was in favour of having a respectable alliance with our ally (undivided Shiv Sena), but it could not take place. BJP contested on its own, and the party gave its first CM in the state. Since then, we have won three consecutive elections as NDA and Devendra Fadnavis is heading the government in the state,” he said.
Shah has reportedly given a clear message to his party cadre, state leadership, and alliance partners as well, in the backdrop of the strained relations between the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. A senior party leader requesting anonymity said, “The state leadership of the BJP has already made its stand on the alliance and inducting the leaders from alliance partners publicly. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who spearheads the elections in the state, has clarified that in some local bodies, they will go solo and in others, they will fight as an alliance. The leadership has also clarified that the poaching of leaders from the other parties, such as the recent induction of three former NCP MLAs, was not just a reaction to the poaching of our leaders by the partners. The stand was taken after the leadership got the go-ahead from the central leadership. This means that even if partners like Shiv Sena are upset in the alliance because of the stands Fadnavis and others took, it is in concurrence with the central leadership. The statement by the Shah during his visit indicates this.”
According to the BJP leaders, the party’s state and city unit leaders had a meeting with Shah on Sunday evening at a city hotel after Shah arrived in Mumbai. The union minister discussed the preparations for the local body polls, especially municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, including Mumbai. “Shah has asked the leaders to ensure that most of the bodies are won by the Mahayuti, if not the BJP alone, as it will allow the party to defuse the opposition claim of the rigging of the voting and electoral machinery. The leader has also given a free hand to the state leadership to take a call on the alliance,” the leader quoted above said. Shah has told the state leaders not to press upon the alliance if the ruling partners were adamant over seats.
Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde is understandably upset over the BJP’s decision to go solo in some of the local bodies. Shinde has been unhappy with the CM’s decision to constitute a separate war room for health sector schemes, when it is Shiv Sena leader Prakash Abitkar heading the health department. Sena leadership is also unhappy over the BJP’s rising strength in Thane. It is believed that Shinde raised these issues during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi last week.
“Shinde had a brief discussion with Shah over political issues during two events the two leaders attended together in Mumbai. But there was no formal meeting between the two. BJP’s central leadership has left it to the state leadership headed by Fadnavis, who has already made it clear on the alliance. The rift between the two alliance partners is expected to widen further as the elections near,” said a Sena leader.