MUMBAI: The BJP has appointed forest minister Ganesh Naik as the in-charge of the election for seven organisational districts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) including Thane, the home turf of deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The appointment of Shinde’s bete noir Naik is perceived as a fresh reason for more friction between the two allies, who have been at loggerheads for the last three years.
The party has also appointed Ashish Shelar, cultural minister and former Mumbai BJP chief, as the election in-charge for the BMC polls expected to be held in January next year. This is being seen as the disempowerment of Mumbai city chief Ameet Satam, who took over from Shelar in August this year.
However, Shelar, when contacted, brushed off any hint of controversy. “These are customary appointments that happen in every election,” he said. “I will be assisting Mumbai unit chief Ameet Satam, under whose leadership the elections will be fought. In the BJP, it is teamwork and all of us put in full efforts for the party.”
Vying for political dominance in MMR’s local bodies, the BJP and Shiv Sena are particularly at loggerheads in Thane, Navi Mumbai and Mira-Bhayander. The tussle between the parties’ local units in Thane has resulted in multiple face-offs over the last three years. Naik, who is guardian minister of Palghar, has been holding janata darbars or people’s courts in Thane, where Eknath Shinde is the guardian minister, and has also publicly stated that the BJP can win power in the Thane corporation on its own. In retaliation, Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik also held an outreach programme in Palghar. Given the ongoing fracas, the local units of both parties want to go solo in the upcoming corporation elections.
The two ruling parties have a clash of interests in the other MMR bodies as well, including Kalyan-Dombivali, Mira-Bhayander and Navi Mumbai. Naik has been made in charge of these bodies, apart from Thane, Bhiwandi and Ulhasnagar. “This may lead to intensified clashes between the parties before the local body polls in these places,” said a BJP leader. “The major fight is in Thane and Navi Mumbai. The Sena is powerful in Thane while the BJP, under the leadership of Naik, is in a position to win the corporation. The two parties are unlikely to reach consensus over seat-sharing.”
In Mumbai, Ashish Shelar has been appointed election in-charge for the BMC polls. Although the party has appointed both election chiefs and persons in-charge in its 75 other organisational districts, Mumbai is the only district to have only an election in-charge.
“The appointment of Shelar means that Ameet Satam will no longer enjoy full powers to chalk out a strategy for the polls and pick candidates,” said a BJP leader. “It is also seen as a reward to Shelar for his performance in the 2017 BMC polls when the BJP won 82 seats, which was just two short of the undivided Shiv Sena.”
In the list released by the party on Wednesday, ministers Girish Mahajan, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Jaikumar Gore and Sanjay Savkare have been appointed in-charge of their respective districts. Ministers Nitesh Rane, Shivendraraje Bhosale, Ashok Uike and Pankaj Bhoyar are in charge in Sindhudurg, Satara, Hingoli and Wardha respectively. Former chief minister Ashok Chavan is in charge of Nanded district while union minister of state for aviation Murlidhar Mohol is in charge of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.